Nike. The majority (29/50) come from the United States. Car companies, who are increasingly using innovative consumer-based technology, are a rising group in the top 50; besides Tesla, the top automotive innovators include Toyota (6th), BMW (7th) and Daimler (10th).
According to BCG, this year’s research revealed four key themes.
1) The rising need for innovation speed: Markets are moving faster, innovation must too. In this year’s survey, overly long development times were the most-cited obstacle to generating returns on innovation and product development. This year saw a growing emphasis on speed, even among companies that are already fast; the demand for speed is itself increasing.
2) Strong innovators are lean innovators: For speed and efficiency, lean innovation is on the rise. BCG asked executives to rate their companies on 12 dimensions related to lean and efficient product development. When BCG segmented the responses by strong versus weak innovators, the percentage of strong innovators following lean principles was 74 percent or more on every single dimension. Strong innovators are two to three times more likely to adhere to lean principles than their weak counterparts.
3) Enabling technology-enabled innovation: Innovators across industries need to embrace technology. Innovators surveyed tend to take technology out of the “IT Department” and into every piece of the company. According to BCG, technology-enabled innovation comes in many forms. It can mean using advanced analytics to improve decision-making, employing digital technologies to retool manufacturing, and harnessing mobile capabilities to improve marketing. The key in all of these is the creation of a platform that can be leveraged repeatedly to deliver impact. BCG suggests that companies who want to pursue more technology-led innovation can start by taking the following steps: deliberately allocate budget and resources to technology innovation; put in place appropriate incentives for individuals to pursue innovation; foster a test and learn, fail fast and fail cheap mentality; and encourage collaboration between IT and business units.
How can we be successful in 2016 in the era of “superboss,” where this extreme performance is rewarded?
At The Boardroom, we are entrepreneurs, small business owners, multi-talented, and multi-taskers. The line between our work and personal lives is not as simple to draw as it is for the average hourly employee who clocks out at the end of each day. Our work is often our true passion, and this makes it easier to seep into every minute of our lives, and even more so now with smartphones. I know that 7-day work weeks, late nights and early mornings are more common for me than I would prefer. Do I love my work? Yes. But, a long-term, sustainable strategy for proper work-life balance must incorporate mindfulness and rejuvenation into this lifestyle.
As The Economist criticizes, “Working around the clock is probably a sign that you are incapable of delegating, not that you are an invincible hero. Frenetic multi-tasking—surfing the web while watching TV while listening to music—is a formula for distraction, rather than good management.” While as entrepreneurs, we don’t always have the luxury of delegating, we can strive for more mindfulness in our work and how we spend our valuable hours.
In 2016, I am resolving to prioritize. To say ‘no’ more and to manage my time better.
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article on the power of saying “no.” The strategy they argue for is a “personal policy,” to make saying “no” easier. These policies are a set of simple rules that guide your decisions and actions. The policies help define priorities and help you to stick to your resolutions around work-life balance. Examples are, “I don’t take work calls on Saturdays because that’s my time with family,” or “I don’t take meetings after 6:00 PM.” A professor of psychology notes in the article that these policies work because they remove rejection from the equation - “You’re not saying ‘no’ to the person, but simply upholding your policy.” And, they can have an added benefit; being seen as someone who executes on their policies can signal a sense of integrity, predictability, and trustworthiness, which is the key to building strong personal and professional relationships. Start with a list of your priorities for work-life balance in 2016 and then form some personal policies around these. And language is key - the article notes that people who use definitive language, ex: “I don’t skip
the gym,” versus “I can’t skip the gym,” were more successful in reaching their fitness goals.