For a 54 year old… this is a scary event – my first blog contribution!

Innovation, photo: theonlyone/flickr

Last week we had the visit of Dr. David E. Goldberg, from iFoundry and of Dr. Lynn Stein, from Olin Engineering.  The occasion was the launch of our new undergraduate program on Innovation Project Leadership. The conversations led me to realize that we need to add a key dimension to this program.  Specifically, far more than fostering people who know about innovation, and who can use this knowledge to generate a real project…. we need to center on an environment where the leadership of and the practice of Innovation can be enjoyed and expressed.

I capture the above through the following statement:
“Innovation is the expression, the evidence of personal responsibility – a responsible person acts to generate, and contribute to the future of the institution it serves.  This gives meaning to the tasks, the risks, the aspirational acts of assertiveness, the leadership, etc.  An Innovative culture = a culture of responsible individuals shaping the future.”

The key word is responsibility. One is responsible for the future of oneself, of the organization or institution one serves, of one’s community, society, and so on.  If one simply follows, one fails to express the “creative gene” that each and all of us have and must use so that each and every one of us prospers.