Innovation

Why Innovate? How?

All companies, whether small or large, whether new or established, must innovate. In fact, all companies eventually reach a crisis where the options are stark and simple. You can innovate, or you can die.

Many companies, even the largest, stumble when they reach that crossroads. In fact, the average life expectancy of a Fortune 500 company is less than that of a human being. As Ray Stata, Chairman of semiconductor giant Analog Devices Incorporated (ADI) once said: “Every business has a life, and you always need to be looking beyond that life. The job of the CEO is to sense [the end of life] and respond, and to be an encouraging sponsor for those who see the future.” In other words, the only way to turn a thriving enterprise into an enduring institution is to strike a healthy balance between innovation and business-as-usual.

A high-stakes innovation challenge could arrive at any moment. Your own crossroads could be months away or it could be decades away. To wait for it to arrive is to wait too long. The day to start building your company’s innovation muscles is today.

There are dozens of ways to increase profits. You can cut costs, you can negotiate more aggressively, you can raise price. Perhaps, however, you want profits plus something more profound.

Try innovation.

Some companies excel at today’s business. Those companies keep the wheels of the economy turning. Other companies innovate. These are the companies that build a better economy for tomorrow and raise living standards for all.

The largest companies have mammoth resources at their disposal for innovation. And so it is, and so it should be, that the most storied innovators are always the underdogs — those working in the garage.

Your garage may be lonely, but you do not work alone. America stands behind its minority business enterprises and salutes its innovators. In particular, America honors its enterprising leaders of this generation and of generations past for their historic and continuing contribution to the America we take pride in today. To sustain its greatness, America must continue to foster innovation domestically, attract the most talented and energetic business leaders from around the world and put their skills to work in this nation.