Are You Building An Innovation Culture?

Innovation Culture
Listen

In looking at a recent Fortune 500 list, we found about 70 companies that have been on the list every year for 50 years. On average these firms are 115 years old, and have been built to transition successfully from one generation to another, independent of technologies, markets, products, processes, and leaders. They also have endured several business downturns.

How have they managed to not just survive, but to grow and prevail? The answer is their innovation culture.

In our analysis, we’ve found that the innovation culture in enterprises has not changed much in the last century. If we compare how a new age company such as Google practices innovation today to how a 170-year-old company such as P&G practices innovation today, we’ll find very little difference. More surprisingly, perhaps, is that if we compare these two innovation cultures to that of General Electric’s 100 years ago, we’ll find very little difference.

Here are our six building blocks for successful innovation culture:

1: Climate

Is our company climate favorable to innovation? Companies should aim to cultivate collaboration, openness, and simplicity. Utilizing people with diverse perspectives also is an important ingredient. The climate is built upon a foundation of trust in which people aren’t afraid to challenge how we do things.

2: Values

Is our organization entrepreneurial, creative, and focused on continuous learning? Note that we are not asking whether your CEO embodies these characteristics, since CEOs come and go.

3: Resources

How do we support our innovation efforts? In our analysis, we find that effective innovators tap into people, systems, and projects.

4: Processes

How do we get innovations done? We find that innovative companies create a funnel to routinely perform the following three activities: capture ideas; sift ideas from opportunities; and separate weak opportunities from strong ones. When strong opportunities are found, they start several small experiments, prototype rapidly, fail fast, and finally, scale-up quickly the highest potential ideas.

5: Behaviors

How do we think and act in order to foster innovation? This question evaluates everyone’s behavior, from executives to front-line employees to outside partners who are intimately involved with the business. In our work and research, we find that innovation behaviors are energizing, engaging, and enabling. One can learn, practice, and coach these behaviors. Best of all, no budget is needed, nor is permission required.

6: Success

What does success mean individually, organizationally, and externally? In our ongoing research, we consistently see that measures of success determine our behaviors and processes. When we feel successful, climate, values, processes, and behaviors get reinforced. Moreover, repeated success reinforces and connects each building block into a culture of innovation.

Getting Started

The road to building the foundation for innovation is old and time-tested. While there are many starting points, a firm can begin the journey by assembling a group of “innovation champions” who help the firm shape its values and create the climate. As the process continues and matures, champions can evolve into a community of mentors and coaches. Along the way, enterprises must:

  • Give this community a common vision and a common language of innovation
  • Provide them with concepts and tools to build the processes
  • Coach their innovation behaviors
  • Help them practice continuous experimentation
  • Assess the culture of innovation within the enterprise at least once a year
  • Be purposeful in creating a culture of innovation

Although this journey may take several years, the investment can yield real benefits before all disciplines are fully developed. Your organization might actually “catch a few fish,” while it is “learning to fish.”

Posted in Insights

More from Insights »

Latest Stories

Man and woman listen to a pitch
Lessons from the Heart of Babson’s Summer Venture Program   Each summer, Babson’s Summer Venture Program gives student founders the tools, mentorship, and momentum to accelerate their ventures. Meet four advisors who are helping shape the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders—one insight at a time.
By
July 22, 2025

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

Side-by-side screenshots of the moment caught on camera
When Scandal Strikes the C-Suite: What Two Babson Professors Say Companies Should Do  A viral Coldplay kiss cam moment involving a CEO and human resources leader at a tech startup rocked the company to its core. Babson management professors provided insight into how ventures can survive a leadership scandal.
By
Hillary Chabot
Writer
Hillary Chabot
Hillary Chabot is a writer for Babson Thought & Action and Babson Magazine. An award-winning journalist, she is known for her insightful reporting and dedication to detailed storytelling. With a career spanning over two decades, she has covered a wide range of topics, from presidential campaigns and government policy to neighborhood issues and investigative series. As a reporter for The Boston Herald, Hillary earned a reputation for tenacity and integrity. Her work at Babson College fuels her passions—to learn something new every day and conduct thoughtful, empathic interviews. She’s thrilled to be at Babson College, where students, faculty, staff members and classes provide compelling copy daily.
July 21, 2025

Posted in Insights

Businesswoman practices deep breathing exercise at workplace desk
How Employees Navigate Mental Illness in the Workplace and What Employers Can Do to Help Emily Rosado-Solomon, an assistant professor at Babson, looks at how employees with mental illness handle their symptoms while at work, a topic that is understudied.
By
John Crawford
Senior Journalist
John Crawford
A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.
July 17, 2025

Posted in Insights