Business Week has published an insightful article on 3M's innovation framework. It was noted in a number of sites on innovation, but it deserves amplification. 3M's Seven Pillars of Innovation lists the following points:
1. “From the chief executive on down, the company must be committed to innovation.”
2. “The corporate culture must be actively maintained”¦.The philosophy of William L. McKnight, its inspirational leader from 1929 to 1966, is passed along by old-timers like Larry Wendling to every new scientist or engineer. In a nutshell: ”˜Hire good people and let them do their job in their own ways. And tolerate mistakes.”™”
3. “Innovation is impossible without a broad base of technology.”
4. “Talk, talk, talk. Management at 3M has long encouraged networking -- formal and informal -- among its researchers. Wendling calls this 3M's secret weapon.”
5. “Reward employees for outstanding work.”
6. “Quantify efforts. 3M tallies how much of its revenue comes from products introduced in the past four years to judge whether its R&D money is being spent wisely.”
7. “Research must be tied to the customer. Employees spend a lot of time with customers to understand what their needs are so they can go back to the labs to come up with valuable products.”
Good advice if applied, 3M has had lots of practice.
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