Last fall, more than 30 leaders from global and German companies, such as T-Mobile, Henkel, Bayer, and Siemens, met in Cologne to discuss how to build a culture that supports innovation. The conversations forged new relationships among the participants and sparked many new ideas for creating a more innovative culture.

The next Innovation Summit, organized by "innovation europe" and its strategic partners, is planned for October 30, 2008. I will be facilitating this year's topic: "What Does it Take to Lead for Innovation?"

In this interactive session, set again in Cologne, we will be exploring innovation leadership challenges. We will also learn more about the impact of a versatile style on leading an organization for more innovative. Participants will have an opportunity to take a mini-version of the Leadership Versatility Index. (For more background on the LVI, please see the July and January, 2008, issues of this newsletter at www.breakthroughcreativity.com)

It is now very clear that innovation is not a management "fad du jour." Instead, innovation is viewed as vital for long-term success. However, building and maintaining a sustainably innovative organization continue to remain an elusive, although critical management challenge for most organizations. Why is building an innovative organization so difficult?

I believe there are two root causes: One is that too few recommendations focus on the complete picture so advice can often be confusing. Is innovation about product development? Disruptive technology? Building external alliances? Customer centricity? Ambidextrous organizations? The second root cause is that leading for innovation is both a science and an art and requires diagnostics, tools, as well as all of the attributes of creative and effective leadership.

Sorting through the literature and advice is not easy task. Based on my research and experience, I have identified four building blocks that in combination lead to sustainable innovation, which I define as an organization's ability to leverage the talents of its employees to create and successfully produce new and different results. Such results range from breakthroughs to incremental changes and improvements in products, services, business models, as well as operational and managerial processes. (See side column for Professor Teresa Amabile's comment on organizational innovation.)

A recent article in Harvard Business Review which I co-authored with Professor David Garvin provides valuable advice on cascading a change initiative down through all levels of the organization. "The Multi-Unit Enterprise" recommends several steps leaders can take to make sure their organization is successful at executing change initiatives and achieving expected benefits.

A limited number of free copies of the article are still available:

While my consulting practice has expanded to embrace the issues of innovation and strategic leadership, creativity remains as the foundation of my practice. After all, it's the creative ideas of individuals, as Professor Amabile writes, that organizational innovation is built upon.

I just delivered another well received workshop, this time to a group of design professionals, on the eight creative talents and how to make them work on a team. In addition to descriptions of this and similar workshops, my website contains several resources and tools for leaders and teams to help them be more creative, productive and effective!