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Growth and Leadership
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Book excerpt: Shower Positive Attention on New Ideas For more than a decade, one of the authors worked in a pharmaceutical company. A senior executive in research, Ralph Dorfman, played a unique role in that organization. Whenever someone had a new idea for an innovative research project, she would go to Ralph. He was a respected scientist with a good deal of experience in research. But the spectrum of research being conducted ranged from molecular biology to chemistry and from biology to pharmaceutical science, with clinical medicine added on. Clearly Ralph was not the expert in all of these areas. But he possessed one quality that caused other people from virtually every area to come to spend time with him. He nurtured new ideas. He searched for the positive elements of everyone’s brainstorm. By nature he was cheerful, always smiling and with a cherubic manner. His instinct was never to find fault and focus on the downsides, but to see the good and the potential in every new idea. One might assume that this was an observation that his colleagues would make years later as they reflected on the forces that made creativity possible. In Ralph’s case, however, even at the time it was occurring, the scientists recognized what a valuable role he was playing in nurturing new ideas. Make a Hobby of Trend Spotting Visit Customers
Consider the rapid way in which an entire industry can be changed by a new idea. In 1989 Bob Plath, an airline pilot, was tired of carrying his luggage through the airport. He had the idea of combining a suitcase with a wheeled base. The first patent on a zippered suitcase with wheels and a telescoping handle was granted in June of 1990. Now more than 85 percent of travelers are using some version of a wheeled suitcase. Noticing that trend early could have spelled the difference between surviving and failing in the luggage industry. Some industries are fortunate to have extremely long product life cycles. But that number is shrinking all the time. Product life cycles are shortening. The most effective leaders constantly scan their environment for subtle changes that may signal an important change. At the same time, they encourage all their colleagues to do the same. One of the skills the inspirational leader needs to develop is to recognize when change is needed. Our research showed that those leaders who excelled at inspiration were far more adept at recognizing when the time had come for change to be implemented. It wasn’t clear whether they were just more attuned to their environment or whether they were fundamentally more restless. Many of us have had the experience of living in a home or apartment for a few years. Then we have planned to have some company over or planned a party at our home. This made us look at our rooms with a more critical eye. There were spots on the carpet. The furniture was faded and frayed. The paint had some bad chips, and there was some water damage on the ceiling. Suddenly we saw our living space through a new lens. It triggered us to take some action. But it took some impending event to cause us to assess our living space objectively. © 2009 by John H. Zenter, Joseph R. Folkman, and Scott K. Edinger. Reprinted with permission from McGraw-Hill. About the Authors |
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