| McKinsey Classics | May 2019 |
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| Senior executives generally feel philosophical about their efforts to promote innovation: 65 percent of those we surveyed felt “somewhat,” “a little,” or “not at all” confident about them. Yet managers and employees broadly agree on the attitudes, values, and behavior that make companies innovative. Topping the list, in McKinsey’s research, were openness to new ideas and a willingness to experiment and take risks. There is also widespread agreement about the cultural attributes that inhibit innovation: bureaucracy, hierarchy, and fear.
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| Innovative cultures don’t magically descend from heaven. The top two motivators are strong leaders who encourage and protect innovation and top executives who actively manage and promote it. In fact, senior executives say their most common sin against innovation is talking it up but failing to act. The second is a failure to model innovation by encouraging behavior such as risk taking and a willingness to consider new ideas. To learn more about how leaders can guide their companies to new paths, read our 2008 classic “Leadership and innovation.”
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| Did You Miss Our Previous McKinsey Classics? |
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| Conventional ideas about managing change emphasize the need for new corporate structures, processes, systems, targets, and incentives. But you can’t implement them effectively unless you understand that people don’t always behave rationally. |
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