Page 216 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

3. Dare to recruit somebody more powerful and insightful
than you.
4. Have a green light to your dreams: commit one day a
week to contribute to the company the way you like (50
percent of new initiatives are developed during this day).
5. Look for quick wins.
6. Provide less “I like it” and more analytics.
7. Do not kill an idea; transform it.
8. Innovation requires constraints like budgets and
timelines.
9. Care about the end customer first, not the money.
10. Identify your “twin” in the company . . . an innovation
sparring partner.

With these attitudes and actions, Google has a remarkable
track record of experimentation and innovation.
Based on work in the innovation literature, we have iden-
tified a six-step protocol for experimentation. (See Figure
8.1.) Leaders who use these steps help employees discover
that there is always enough and to spare of great ideas.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement programs are just what they sound
like: efforts to institutionalize the focus on constant improve-
ment. Leaders encourage continuous improvement through
both formal programs and informal conversations.
A great example of a formal continuous improvement
program is Alcoa’s suggestion system where thousands of sug-
gestions are made and about 60 percent are implemented.
Over 40 years, Toyota’s suggestion system has received more
than 20 million suggestions or about one per employee per
week, the vast majority of which are used. The GE Work-

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