 About
time for some good news. Here are ten stand-out companies which, in the
midst of a miserly, risk-averse horde of unimaginative, uninnovative
companies in almost every sector of the economy, we should be
celebrating. While the anorexia-crazed corporatist giants believe the
best way to deal with innovation is to shut it down by patenting
everything and suing every upstart into oblivion, these ten companies
are setting the example to show how business should be capitalizing on
the market, not cornering it:
Most Innovative Media Company: Fast Company. The December 'Creativity Edition' of Fast Company magazine is now online,
and I'd encourage you to read it, cover to cover, and then buy yourself
and a friend a subscription to this magazine, which towers above its
competition. In my opinion there are only three indispensable magazines
on the market: Fast Company, The New Yorker, and Consumer Reports. The gang at fast company are not only great thinkers, they are constantly thinking ahead.
Most Innovative Manufacturer: WL Gore.
The makers of Gore-Tex and a lot of stunningly inventive medical
products you've probably never heard of. Fast Company's complete story
on the company is available in pdf form here. I mentioned an earlier study on this company last spring. Best takeaway: The six secrets of Gore's innovation success:
- The Power of Small Teams:
Gore tries to keep its teams small (and caps even its manufacturing
plants at 200 people). That way, everyone can get to know one another
and work together with minimal rules, as though they were a task force
tackling a crisis.
- No Ranks, No Titles, No Bosses:
Associates (employees) select mentors, they don't have bosses.
Associates decide for themselves what new commitments to take on.
Committees evaluate an associate's contribution and decide on
compensation. There are no standardized job descriptions or categories.
- Take the Long View:
Gore is impatient with the status quo but patient about the time --
often years, sometimes decades -- it takes to develop revolutionary
products and bring them to market.
- Make Time for Face Time: There's
no hierarchical chain of command; anyone in the company can talk to
anyone else. Gore discourages memos and prefers in-person communication
to email.
- Lead by Leading:
Associates spend 10% of their time pursuing speculative new ideas.
Anyone is free to launch a project and be a leader, so long as they
have the passion and ideas to attract followers. Many of Gore's
breakthroughs started with one person acting on his or her own
initiative, and developed as colleagues helped in their spare time.
- Celebrate Failure: Don't stigmatize it. When a project doesn't work out and the team kills it, they celebrate with beer or champagne.
Most Innovative Software Company: Google. I reported earlier on Google Desktop and Picasa, but these guys never rest on their laurels. Take a look at Google Local,
which allows you to find the closest Thai restaurant or tailor to you,
even if you live out in the boonies like me. Or look at Google Keyhole,
a subscription service that allows you to use animation to zoom in and
out of annotated aerial photographs, taking you by movie camera
anywhere in the world you want to go. Or try Google Alerts,
which will send you an e-mail whenever new stories show up anywhere on
the web that contain your selected keywords. And there's more -- browse
the entire Google Labs to see what's coming next. These guys are the energizer bunnies of innovation.
Most Innovative Hardware Company: Apple. With the iPod, Apple has reaffirmed its ability to create and reinvent whole hardware product categories.
Most Innovative Financial Organization: ING.
The Dutch company that realized you don't need offices to run a bank
has got the big banks, and now the big insurance companies, running
scared. They offer better rates, minimal bureaucracy, by simply
thinking smarter and constantly challenging all the established rules
in the financial services industry.
Most Innovative Retailer: eBay.
You know what these guys have done. Long after Wal-Mart is disgraced
for having destroyed so many jobs and ruined so many companies in the
race for the bottom, eBay will be remembered as the real innovators in retailing.
Best Blockbuster Idea Incubator: The New Yorker. This is the company that nurtures people like Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point) and James Surowiecki (The Wisdom of Crowds). Who would have thought you could make money by paying people to just think about great, world-changing ideas?
Most Innovative Business Advisor: Charles Handy would be my choice, though Clay Christensen, Peter Drucker, Gary Hamel and Michael Schrage are pretty good too.
Best Website for Creativity-Boosting: IdeaChampions.
If giving things away free is its own reward, Mitch Ditkoff and the
crew at IdeaChampions should be very wealthy. This little company's
website is a goldmine of good ideas and tools that spark creativity and
innovation. If you can't afford to hire them, bookmark their site and visit often. If you can afford to hire them, do. And you can help them out by participating in this just-for-fun quiz.
Most Socially & Environmentally Responsible Innovator: Patagonia. This is a company that developed
a process that recycles the plastic in discarded soda bottles to make
state-of-the-art clothing. And they donate 10% of profits to
environmental causes that they're deeply involved in. In more ways than
one, they make you feel warm all over.
A few other companies, like Amazon, Sony, and 3M would have made the list, but unfortunately they're on the Boycott List. Ingenuity must be tempered by responsibility.
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