每每思考创新究竟是什么的问题时，脑海里总会不由自主的出现一个个鲜活的场景：爱因斯坦吐舌头、爱迪生发明电灯泡、乔布斯穿着招牌黑衫加牛仔运动站在讲台上推介时下最新的i产品等。其实，这些也不算是真正的创意，甚至是有些过于夸张。
因为创新并非就只是那么浪漫的一刻，面对着黑板或鸡尾酒餐巾“啊哈！”一声；创新是创意之后的实质性付出：让人们认可并实现创意。创新的人究竟长什么模样？最重要的是，我敢肯定你们都在问自己：我属于哪一种？
创新不是浪漫一刻，对着鸡尾酒餐巾一声“啊哈！”；创新是萌生创意想法之后的实际努力：让旁人认可接受。那么，那些人都长什么样？最重要的是，你们应该都在问自己：我算哪一类？
“福布斯观察”最新研究显示，“培育欧洲企业精神：创业企业经理如何推动组织创新”，并提出了5种主要特质，这些人格对于在组织内部培育健康的创新氛围至关重要。有些侧重创业结果，有些注重过程——但是他们都发挥着至关重要的作用。即，思想家需要执行者实现想法，梦想家需要数字统计来限定实际。
尽管有时会遇到障碍，但在任何健康的工作环境中，激进者和保守者的冲突不可或缺；否则，组织会过于倾向一个或另一个极端，要么没有目标随处乱闯，要么原地踏步毫无进展。有效的创意文化就像是一道美味的意式什菜汤：需要正确的组合和平衡的调料，否则就不成功、会成为一锅浆糊。
“福布斯观察”的调查研究对欧洲1200多名高管人士就广泛主题进行了调查。采用问卷形式，涉及他们的态度、信念、优先考虑的要务和行为，同时观察有利于或不利于培育创新氛围的环境力量，总结出在创新环境中能起作用的5种主要人格特质。
实干家（Movers and Shakers）。这种人是具有强烈个人进取意识的领导者类型。他们受目标和回报的强烈激励，但这类人的主要动机是流芳于世、影响他人。其中有些人喜欢冲在前面，推动项目前进（在此过程也有可能树立自我），不过最终他们会鼓励大家。另一方面，他们可能有些傲慢，团队合作会不配合。实干家往往集中于风险和企业战略部门，私人投资和媒体行业，中等规模企业等；虽然他们占整个高管人数的22％，但在年营业额2500万到10亿美元的公司里，实干家的比例可占到1/3。
实验者（Experimenters）。这种人向来追求新生事物，思想开阔，是有步骤实现创新团队的完美人选。“车到山前必有路，”大概是对这类人最贴切的形容。他们是完美主义者，且多为工作狂，大约因为推动大家尚未接受的创新需要付出令人难以置信的努力、时间和辛劳。他们对自己的成就深感自豪，不过也乐于和他人分享专业知识；他们是那种工作极为专注的同事，对手头的工作很狂热，以至于别人都觉得，开会的时候做白日梦、盘算晚餐做什么实在是心中有愧。由于他们非常执着，不惧时不时巨大的阻力，他们是创新的关键。他们愿意冒险，在高管中大约占据16％——通常就职于年营业额1亿美元至10亿美元的中等规模公司，在其中占20％。出乎意料的是，他们一般不是CEO或COO——这类职位分别仅有14％和15％是敢于实践者。
明星学生（Star Pupils）。记得那些小学时代总是坐前排的同学吗？只要老师一提问，他们总是第一个举手。也许还高呼“点我！点我！”就为了引起老师的注意。这些孩子长大成人就属于这一类型。他们善于做的事情数不胜数，堪称无所不长：树立个人形象，找寻并培养适当的领头羊，发现同事的优秀才干并善加利用。总之，就算企业文化不利于他们，他们也能一路青云直上，有所作为。难怪CEO往往是明星学生类型。尽管24％的企业高管属于此类，但关于这类人最有意思的是，他们不集中于任何特定的职位、行业或某种规模的公司；更确切的说，他们在任何地方都能茁壮成长：信息通信业、金融业、创业企业、著名跨国公司等等。他们是商业界的骨干阶层。
操控者（Controllers）。他们往往不爱冒险，适合稳定的组织，规避不确定的项目。最突出的是，他们喜欢掌控自己的领域，喜欢一切井井有条。作为同事，他们不完全是那种团队合作与沟通型的人；操控者比较自行其道，专注于具体明确的目标，这样他们知道自己身处何境，可以更好的掌控周围的一切。他们占高管的15％，是占比较少的人群——往往集中在两个极端：要么是拥有1000名以上员工的大企业，要么是员工不超过10人的小企业。想想也有道理：在大公司，操控着适合做高官，完全掌控周边的一切；在小公司，他们可能就是老板，根据自己的喜好创办了企业。这类人多在销售、市场营销和金融部门，集中于企业中工作实际不求务虚的一端：部门负责人及经理，他们的任务是接到命令就带领部队前进。
古董派（Hangers-On）。先别管这名字是否悦耳；这些高管就是要带领大家面对现实、脚踏实地。古董派就像餐桌上的菠菜：没多少人喜欢，但很重要，没它凑不齐一桌菜。和操控者一样，古董派也不适合不成熟的组织结构，而且过之而无不及，他们倾向于依赖传统智慧和成功经验，而不会轻易尝试未经验证的新方法。如果要他们选择立场，他们最有可能当中间派。这也不见得就是人品差；总得有人来提醒大家不要冒进、遵规守纪。他们占了所有高管的23％，不论公司规模大小都一样，CFO一类的财务领导者占38％。这一点都不奇怪；因为财务总是提醒大家预算和资源有限的。
其实，综上分析，没有任何一种类型的人是最标准的“创新家”，但实验者和明星学生可能更接近一些。因为他们动机强，也有较强的控制欲，愿做领头羊，带领部队。年轻的创业型小企业一般是需要实验者来打头炮，进而产生能量，达成目标。但是，随着企业不断发展，就要换不同的角色登场。
总而言之，恣意的创新确实很棒。但下一步该往何方迈却是更加重要的，为了将创新的想法最终实现，最关键的是要打造一支精英型团队，并能在冒险和保守之间张弛有度，实现理想的平衡。只有这样，才能使创新的企业蒸蒸日上。
slideshow of images clicks across my mind: that photo of Einstein with his tongue sticking out, Edison with his light bulb, Steve Jobs onstage in his black turtleneck, introducing the latest iThing. Unoriginal and overdone, to be sure. And not all that accurate.
Because it’s not just about that romantic “ah ha!” moment in front of a chalkboard or a cocktail napkin, it’s about the nitty-gritty work that comes after the idea: getting it accepted and implemented. Who are these faces? And, most importantly, as I’m sure you’re all asking yourselves: where do I fit in?
Forbes Insights’ recent study, “Nurturing Europe’s Spirit of Enterprise: How Entrepreneurial Executives Mobilize Organizations to Innovate,” isolates and identifies five major personalities crucial to fostering a healthy atmosphere of innovation within an organization. Some are more entrepreneurial, and some more process-oriented – but all play a critical role in the process. To wit: thinkers need doers to get things done, and idealists need number crunchers to tether them to reality.
Though it may seem stymieing at times, in any healthy working environment, a tension between the risk-takers and the risk-averse must exist; otherwise, an organization tilts too far to one extreme or the other and either careens all over the place or moves nowhere at all. An effective and productive culture of innovation is like a good minestrone soup: it needs to have the right mix and balance of all the ingredients, otherwise it’s completely unsuccessful, unbalanced — and downright mushy.
The Forbes Insights study surveyed more than 1,200 executives in Europe across a range of topics and themes. Using a series of questions about their attitudes, beliefs, priorities and behaviors, coupled with a look at the external forces that can either foster – or desiccate – an innovative environment, a picture emerged of five key personality types the play a role in the innovation cycle.
This last piece – the corporate environment – is a stealth factor that can make or break the potential even the most innovative individual. Look at it this way: a blue whale is the largest animal known ever to have existed, but if you tried to put it in a freshwater lake, it wouldn’t survive. Well, that and it would displace a lot of water. My point? Even the largest and mightiest of creatures can’t thrive in an environment that doesn’t nurture them.
The themes surveyed in the study are universal; despite the focus on European executives, these personalities are applicable across oceans and cultures. The full study, available here, provides further breakdown of where these personality types congregate by industry, company size and job function.
I’ll leave it to you to decide which one fits you best . You may even see a little of yourself in more than one group. But remember, none of these are bad. All play crucial roles in developing an idea, pushing it up the corporate channels, developing a strategy and overseeing execution and implementation. These are all pieces of a puzzle, arteries leading to the beating heart of corporate innovation. Wow – can I make that sound any more dramatic?
Movers and Shakers. With a strong personal drive, these are leaders. Targets and rewards motivate them strongly, but a major incentive for this group is the idea of creating a legacy and wielding influence over others. These are the ones who like being in the front, driving projects forward (and maybe promoting themselves in the process), but at the end of the day, they provide the push to get things done. On the flip side, they can be a bit arrogant, and impatient with teamwork. Movers and Shakers tend to cluster in risk and corporate strategy, in the private equity and media industries, at mid-size companies; though they comprise 22% of total executives, at companies with revenues of $25 million to $1 billion, Movers and Shakers can encompass up to one-third of the executive suite.
Experimenters. Persistent and open to all new things, experimenters are perhaps the perfect combination for bringing a new idea through the various phases of development and execution. “Where there is a will, there is a way,” is perhaps the best way to describe them. They’re perfectionists and tend to be workaholics, most likely because it takes an incredible amount of dedication, time and hard work to push through an idea or initiative that hasn’t yet caught on. They take deep pride in their achievements, but they also enjoy sharing their expertise with others; they’re that intense colleague who feels passionately about what they do and makes everyone else feel guilty for daydreaming during the meeting about what they plan on making for dinner that night. Because they’re so persistent, even in the face of sometimes considerable pushback, they’re crucial to the innovation cycle. They tend to be risk-takers, and comprise about 16% of executives – and are most likely to be found in mid-size firms of $100 million to $1 billion (20%). Surprisingly, they’re least likely to be CEOs or COOs – just 14% and 15%, respectively, are Experimenters.
Star Pupils. Do you remember those kids in grade school who sat up in the front, whose hands were the first in the air anytime the teacher asked a question? Maybe they even shouted out “Ooh! Ooh!” too just to get the teacher to notice them first? This is the segment of the executive population those kids grew into. They’re good at…well, they’re good at everything, really: developing their personal brand, seeking out and cultivating the right mentors, identifying colleagues’ best talents and putting them to their best use. Somehow, they seem to be able to rise through the ranks and make things happen, even when corporate culture seems stacked against them. Unsurprisingly, CEOs tend to be Star Pupils. What’s most interesting about this group, though, is the fact that, at 24% of corporate executives, they don’t seem to cluster in any one particular job function, industry or company size; rather, they can grow and thrive anywhere: IT, finance, start-ups, established MNCs. They’re the stem cells of the business world.
Controllers. Uncomfortable with risk, Controllers thrive on structure and shy away from more nebulous projects. Above all, they prefer to be in control of their domain and like to have everything in its place. As colleagues, they’re not exactly the team players and networkers; Controllers are more insular and like to focus on concrete, clear-cut objectives where they know exactly where they stand and can better control everything around them. They comprise 15% of executives — the smallest group overall — and tend to cluster on both extremes of the spectrum: either in the largest enterprises (with 1,000 or more employees) or the smallest (with fewer than 10). This makes sense when you think about it: controllers thrive on overseeing bureaucracy (at larger firms) or having complete control over all aspects of their sphere – at the smallest firms, they may be the business owner who has built an entire company around their personality. Controllers pop up most frequently in sales and marketing and finance, and populate the more practical, less visionary, end of the corporate hierarchy: these are the department heads and managers who receive their marching orders and get to mobilizing their troops to marching.
Hangers-On. Forget the less-than-flattering name; these executives exist to bring everyone back down to earth and tether them to reality. On a dinner plate, Hangers-On would be the spinach: few people’s favorite, but extremely important in rounding out the completeness of the meal. Like Controllers, they don’t embrace unstructured environments, and they tend to take things one step further, hewing to conventional wisdom and tried-and-true processes over the new and untested. When asked to pick a side, Hangers-On will most likely pick the middle. This is not necessarily a bad set of characteristics to have; someone has to be the one to remind everyone of limitations and institutional processes. While they comprise 23% of all executives – the same no matter the company size – they cluster most strongly in the CFO/Treasurer/Comptroller role, where 38% are Hangers-On. This makes sense; someone has to remind everyone of budget and resource constraints.
No one group can be considered the purest “entrepreneurial group,” but Movers and Shakers and Experimenters may be the closest. They have the strongest tendency to be internally driven, in control and bridle the most at others telling them what to do. Younger, more innovative firms generally need Movers and Shakers at the top, channeling the energy of Experimenters into a vision that can be implemented. As organizations grow larger and more established, however, they need Star Pupils who can translate that vision into a strategy and lead it forward, Controllers who can marshal the troops to execute it and Hangers-On who can rein it in. A firm reaching maturity has greater need for strong processes, as well as those who value control.
As we’ve seen time and again, unbridled innovation is a wonderful thing. But it’s what comes next that’s arguably more important. To get an innovative idea off the ground, it’s crucial to have a cast of characters who can keep that tension between risk-taking and reality at a healthy balance midway between the sky and the ground — where innovation can thrive.
