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Related Experiment Videos

The weird rules of creativity.

R I Sutton1

  • 1Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.

Harvard Business Review
|September 12, 2001
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Traditional management techniques hinder innovation. Effective innovation requires counterintuitive strategies like betting on unproven ideas, ignoring past successes, and fostering constructive conflict to drive creativity and break from the past.

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Area of Science:

  • Management Science
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Innovation Studies

Background:

  • Companies prioritize innovation, often using traditional management techniques.
  • Established practices are effective for existing products but suboptimal for fostering innovation.
  • A paradigm shift in management is needed for successful innovation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To outline counterintuitive yet effective strategies for managing creativity and innovation.
  • To challenge conventional management wisdom regarding innovation.
  • To provide practical approaches for hiring and managing creative talent.

Main Methods:

  • Review of academic research spanning over a decade.
  • Analysis of unconventional management practices for fostering innovation.
  • Illustrative examples of successful, albeit unusual, innovation strategies.

Main Results:

  • Effective innovation management involves "standing management on its head."
  • Key strategies include investing in unproven ideas, disregarding past successes, and encouraging internal conflict.
  • Hiring decisions may benefit from "gut feelings" against candidates, and customer feedback can be selectively managed.

Conclusions:

  • Unconventional practices enhance innovation by broadening knowledge, enabling novel problem-solving, and facilitating a departure from established norms.
  • These methods help companies overcome inertia and foster a more dynamic innovative environment.
  • Successful innovation hinges on embracing risk, randomness, and a willingness to challenge the status quo.