IT Needs Innovation in Management, Not Products

by Vince Kellen

With so much talk about the management of innovation, we have lost sight of something more important: innovation in management. When innovative products wow us, innovators of those products receive our praise and adulation. It is a time-honored tradition as old as civilization itself. After all, every age will have its Michelangelo. However, innovation in management, while usually unseen, is much more important than innovation in products. One could argue that behind each great innovative product lies an innovative approach to management. Companies will find it hard to create innovative products using outdated management approaches.