Companies look at innovations as breakthroughs and fail to think about incremental innovation. A good example is what happened concerning electric light using the Edison design. The design of the bulb did not change for 16 years after it was created. When a product and process improvement took place, the price of the bulb was reduced by about 80%.

Executives and managers break away from traditional ways of thinking and use change to their advantage. It is a time of risk but even greater opportunity if that risk is calibrated with process. The world of work is changing with the increase in the use of technology and both companies and businesses are becoming increasingly competitive.

Having methods for an open mindset is essential for a creative culture. A sense of inquiry, of curiosity for innovation. And the quickest way for removing curiosity is to have organizations that are too inward-facing. Taking the time to understand the world that they would like to have clients in. And clearly a sense of openness, and empathy for the world, for people whose problems they might be trying to solve-that’s essential.

The environment of trust must be created, where risks can be taken, mistakes will occur, and the extent of the risks is agreed and agreed upon. We tend in our operationally minded view of the world to try and mitigate and design out as much risk as we can, but if you want to innovate, you also have to stay open to change. And to stay open you must have a clear and true level of trust within the organization.

If people get penalized for failure, then there is no room to learn from trying something new, therefore change is not worth effort, in which case you’re not going to adopt any innovation.