Comment on Why Innovation Is Critical to Success.

Comment on why innovation is critical to success. (Please limit your answer to 250 words.)

I would define innovation as creativity coupled with successful realization. Innovation is the result of purposeful work. It must be built on one’s own strength yet not ignoring one’s weaknesses. I consider innovation as an important driver for the growth and sustainability of a business.

I was working on the initial sizing of the Engine casing at Goodrich. The sizing involved tradeoff between many parameters and the task involved several days of calculation. A change in the requirements 1week before the design review required all the calculations to be done from the scratch which was both difficult and time consuming. I proposed an idea of using Genetic Algorithms (GA). It was hard to convince the board as GA was not used in any of the previous designs but after explaining the benefits the board agreed. I could not only complete the project on time but also successfully proposed the new design with 10% weight savings and reduced the execution time by 60% for all the future projects. This approach to solving an issue made me realize how any business can turn around a situation with innovative thinking.

To build a sustainable business, CEOs need to foster innovation in all functions of the business. Sustainable growth would need product innovation funded by financial innovation taken to customer by commercial innovation and delivered by operational innovation. The technology leaders of the twenty first century will be those who continually strive to develop innovative solutions to the management problems.