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AG Lafley

Comments and Responses from our Innovation Community: Should CEOs Also Serve as Chief Innovators

Posted by on 06 August 2009
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Last Friday I posted on our FEI LinkedIn group a recent blog post Should CEOs also serve as Chief Innovators and we've gotten tremendous response! I'd like to thank all of our members that participated and shared some insights on that discussion thread. Here are some edited comments from our group that I wanted to share with our readers. Enjoy!

Dick Lee, President, Value Innovations, Inc. Leading authority on value innovation methodology, process and tools -

Yes, absolutely!

Some others:

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group
James Dyson, Dyson
David Liniger, REMAX/International
Herb Kelleher and now Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines

Joy Bergmann, Communications Director at Fahrenheit 212 - Having the CEO and CIO as one person is an effective way to bridge the innovation success gap that's plagued the two camps for far too long.

Richard D. Smith, President at SMITH-TRG, Trusted Business Advisor - Don't forget Fred Smith of FedEx...not a sexy as Steve Jobs or Sir. Richard but he clearly understands the need to constantly deliver value.
Then we have Bill Marriott of Marriott International. There are others...Michael Dell of Dell, focused on business model innovation and now, or I should sayagain, product/service innovation

Ken Jacobsen, Independent Computer Software Professional - Every company has 2 products... that which they innovate...and THEIR STOCK. The CEO is the PRODUCT MANAGER for the STOCK. If they do anything else, that important product will flag.

Don Coley, Dynamic and Innovative Global Product Marketing /Business Development Leader - In my opinion, the truly effective CEO must manage and fuel innovation with "bifocal vision" . Every day, with every decision attend to the realities of the current business climate and create the environment where the organization is innovating and preparing aggressively for the future.

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