“Innovation seems to be rediscovered in each managerial generation (about every six years) as a fundamental way to enable new growth. But each generation seems to have forgotten or never learned the mistakes of the past, so we see classic traps repeated over and over again. Some of these repeat offenders include burying innovation teams under too much bureaucracy, treating the innovators as more valued corporate citizens than those who work in the current business, and hiring leaders who don’t have the relationship and communications skills necessary to foster innovation.”
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Lessons Not Learned About Innovation, an interview by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge for Business Leaders
Professor Kanter’s article on her research, Innovation: The Classic Traps, can be bought here.