Age of innocence and innovation: Not every work day is marked by brilliance

Multiple sectors are on a high with innovation, naturally because it is the best way to secure long-term business viability. Moreover, innovation nowadays is coming around to an overarching intention of promoting public good. Green technology is on the rise to allay anxieties about climate change and environmental degradation. Medicine, in particular, has an inherent breakneck R&D mandate to defeat the ravages of dreaded diseases and epidemics. The sector, however, is a case for building innovation on the details----the management of medical facilities, which is not so much concerned with breakthrough cures as with improving hospital experience, can be more profitable and efficient.

Image Source: socialyuppies.co.za

Corporate cultures, then, are embedding the innovative mindset within the walls of the workplace for some good old intrapreneurship. Joint ventures and public-private partnerships are well and good for funding the ideas of others, but a company that can file its own patents for a novel idea will definitely rule the market. The largest example is Google, with its sprawling campus of inspirational air. Employees are encouraged to go off at certain periods in search for the next big thing, at paid company hours.

Image Source: businessinsider.com

Even then, the jewels of thought are washed ashore only as often. Google does not roll out a stellar new product every month, which would have meant that brilliant employee pitches are coming in every day and being piloted with supreme speed. But it's the small things in the Google environment of products that give clues about the company's inherent dynamism. A new Gmail format is just as telling as Google Glass of the hum of in-house activity.

Image Source: ideachampions.com

Every work day has to be productive, but it can't always be easy going. Cultures of innovation take long to build, with pre-requisites such as competent professionals motivated by the right compensation packages, open leadership, and flexible business processes that allow the injection of new, viable ideas when they come up.

Emile Haddad is a Seattle-based business consultant with modern insights on leadership and innovation. Visit this blog for new ideas about professional life and entrepreneurship.