Why do successful innovators earn respect?
February 14th, 2010
In the category of “stuff we should already know,” the new Barron’s Magazine list of the world’s ten most respected companies includes nine leading innovators. Before we go any further, here are the top ten companies:
- Apple
- Johnson & Johnson
- Procter and Gamble
- IBM
- Berkshire Hathaway
- Toyota Motors
- McDonalds
- Cisco
- Amazon
Do these names look familiar? The list was chosen by investors who were focused primarily on stock perfomance, but the lesson still applies. Setting aside Berkshire Hathaway, which as a holding company is a separate case, innovation has been central to the success of the other nine enterprises on this list. Even with Toyota’s recent public failures, the company still has a long-standing commitment to innovation that has built its reputation.
Why do successful innovators earn this kind of respect? By now, you’ve heard all of the strategic and financial arguments for the pursuit of innovation, so let me offer a more human one. Innovators earn respect, because the pursuit of innovation to create radical new value demonstrates respect for today’s customers, employees and investors. What’s more, innovation is a strong statement of respect for two stakeholder groups that don’t usually get much attention but are especially important to associations: predecessors and successors. Innovation pays respect to those who came before by preserving their critical contributions of time, energy and passion, while offering respect to those who will follow by ensuring the organization will not be captive to its past.
So the answer to the question is pretty simple. Successful innovators earn respect, because they give it. How is your association showing respect to its full continuum of stakeholders?
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Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, Simplicity, We Have Always Done It That Way, Google, Garage Memes, Embrace the Revolution
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Association exec Ben Martin, CAE is P.I.’s Architect of Participation. Jeff and Ben help clients harness the power of the Web through the strategic application of social tools.
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