A new One Percent

Everyone in business dreams of coming up with that next big idea. After all, that’s why they went into business in the first place…to take a better mouse trap to market.

Obviously, not everyone achieves that objective. In fact, very few do. Think Apple or Ford’s assembly line.

So how is that a few – very few – can pull it off? The answer, say a couple writers on Strategy + Business is to focus on innovation. And they add, refine that a bit further by allocating one percent of the company’s time to it. This one percent solution, they note, is different than strategic planning where you set a goal and then chase it.

In the innovation arena there are no goals, just what ifs and if you mix the two you’ll squelch the creative process required to be innovative.

One percent, they argue, is not a big time commitment but if you find that bit of magic soon it will take over 99 percent of the company activities and create a new strategic plan or objective in the process.