What if… Analysts cared more about Innovation

When I was a kid, Marvel Comics put out a series called “What if…?”  Each would fill my head with wonder as I read through the daydreams the comic’s writers came up with for heroes like Spiderman, Captain America, and the Hulk.

Jeneanne Ray let me relive this sense of wonder and excitement in BusinessWeek by sharing her fantasy conference call which took place in a (hopefully not too distant) future where Wall Street analysts understand the value of structured innovation, and corporate executives, seeing how an integrated innovation program directly effects their stock price, do as well .

I love this.   It’s very clever how Jeneane understands that while broad brush stroke innovation may never appeal directly to Wall Street, structured innovation and the value it creates, is something analysts could actually wrap their brains around.   And of course, pressure from Wall Street can always help change a company’s priorities.

As Jeneane says, “just as quality became a serious business discipline 20-plus years ago, and is now embedded in most organizations through standard operating procedures, innovation must be developed as a discipline. And we believe that, over the next 20 years, it will be.”

I agree wholeheartedly.  Innovation needs to make the jump from being perceived as an art to that as a discipline. 

However, what Jeneane left out is that, whether acknowledged or not, when implemented, structured innovation programs already add real value to companies that have implemented them by making them more productive and competitive.   And by helping companies succeed, they already do affect stock price.   

Now if we can just get the analysts out there to take notice…