iPOD, uPod, we all Pod . . . and Apple pockets the dosh. Earlier this month Apple Computer reported record quarterly profits. It has also been voted the most innovative company in the world.

This is no coincidence. Innovation — having a bigger, brighter idea than your competitors — sets the cash registers ringing. That is why any winning strategy has at its heart a good idea.

Which all sounds simple until you try to do it. Where do you go to find good ideas and how can companies use creativity to make money? This is a hot topic in the boardroom. The Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Innovation 2005 survey found that two executives out of three say that innovation is one of their company’s top three strategic priorities. Jim Andrew, a senior vice-president and director at BCG, says: “Innovation is extremely important; without it, you quickly find that your competitors can make it or do it too.” And if strategy is about gaining a competitive edge you’re doomed when someone else says “me too”.

Despite their enthusiasm, most bosses don’t believe that they are getting their money’s worth from innovation. Andrew says that this is because few firms transform themselves into truly innovative organisations. This means applying innovation to everything you do. At places such as Sony and Apple, innovation is “part of the DNA”, Andrew says. Everyone has bought into the need for it, there is support and money for idea generation and tolerance of failures, innovation is both measured and rewarded in the form of staff bonuses and prizes.

The management guru Robert Heller says that it would help if managers relaxed and stopped trying to control staff so much. True ideas cultures encourage dissent and difference, he says.

At companies such as Gore and 3M, staff are given the time to experiment with ideas which might, or might not, benefit the company. Sadly this is not the norm.

Back in the dot-com era everyone thought that good ideas came from highly paid creative types. Now most people agree that anyone is capable of having a blinding idea.

Sal Pajwani, the managing director of ?What If!, a London-based innovation company, says: “Innovation is a science”, his formula for which includes seeking inspiration from unusual sources, thinking laterally and testing out ideas with customers. Tim Brown, the CEO and president of Ideo, a design company, would like Pajwani. Brown thinks that innovative strategy comes from people who think like designers, and this is what Pajwani and the guys at Apple do. Designers know their customers, empathise with them and like building prototypes Whether you’re a designer or an accountant, whether inspiration strikes while you’re at your desk or in the shower, an ideas strategy can definitely increase your worth.

Data file

STRATEGY is a word that has been hijacked by academics and profiteers. It sounds important and it promises to give us a leg up the greasy pole of corporate life, if only we could find out what it means. In this ten-week series Career is translating some of the gobbledegook into practical advice. Each week we cover an aspect of the basics — What is a strategy? How can you get one? And why bother?


This week we talked to ?What If! (www.whatif.co.uk) and The Boston Consulting Group (www.bcg.com). We read Sticky Wisdom (Capstone, £14.99), Companies with the Creative Spark, by Robert Heller (www.spaceforideas.uk.com), and Strategy by Design, by Tim Brown published in Fast Company (www.fastcompany.com).

Next week: How important is strategy?

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