Defining Innovation — and Converting Words to Action

Innovation is a tough word to define, but most would say they know it when they see it. At the recent Wharton Women in Business conference, participants in the panel, “Driving Innovation through Careers in Technology,” were asked to discuss their personal definitions of the term and give a concrete example from their own experiences.

Here is a look at what they had to say:

Julie Anixter, CIO MagaDesign, a visual information mapping and communications firm.

Her definition: “My definition until about two years ago was doing something game-changing. But with the financial free-fall that the world is in today, my new definition is saving our great companies, saving ourselves and creating our futures by doing something really game-changing.”

An example: “The last great project that we did was with the CIO of the Air Force, who has lost a lot of budget and influence with the changes at the Department of Defense, but nonetheless needs to finance his strategy for an integrated Air Force. We worked with him to do a series of 18 maps where we got leaders in the room to co-create a visual strategy for the next couple of years for the Air Force.”

Linda C. Brigance, vice president, IT customs clearance and logistics, FedEx Services and chief information officer, FedEx Trade Networks.

Her definition: “Innovation is about people. It’s about putting an idea into motion.”

An example: “I always go back to an old example. FedEx.com was the first to put [package] tracking onto the web. At that point, the web was just a repository of information. This wasn’t an idea that came from the board room; we had a guy who just did it…. A more recent example is a GPS device for the health industry and a web portal collaboration that allows tracking showing if a package has been opened and the variance in [package temperature] because a lot of health care products are very sensitive and have to stay within a certain range of temperature.”

Brooke L. Eplee, director of strategy and corporate development for Sony Music Entertainment’s global digital business division.

Her definition: We live in such a fragmented world these days, especially in a place like the music industry, so a lot of good ideas out there haven’t been brought together. The dots haven’t been connected, and if you have someone who is thinking about how to connect the dots, often there are ready sources of information just waiting to be tapped.”

An example: “Vevo is a property that we launched in December 2009. The music industry had never monetized music videos; they were thought of as a promotional tool…. What we have done [with Vevo] is … built [a portal] where users could watch videos for free…. That way, we can curate the experience that people have on the website and sell ads against that. When the experience is a premium experience, premium-tier advertisers are more willing to put advertising behind it.”

Stephanie Ferguson, GM of Windows Phone, Microsoft.

Her definition: “At Microsoft, we think of [innovation] in terms of inventions and reinventions that are brought to the market … and actually transform the experience for the customer.”

An example: “Kinect is a sensor we built for the Xbox 360…. For the person standing in front of it, the Kinect builds a skeletal replica of you and uses software to process what the skeleton is doing and relates it to the application you’re using. There’s also voice recognition, so with those two natural user interfaces at work, you don’t need to use a controller anymore…. From a business standpoint, it is a huge opportunity to … break out of our traditional 17-27 year-old male customer base for the Xbox and really broaden the addressable market. It also opened up possibilities in terms of what could be done in entertainment….

Deborah Nelson, chief of staff, global sales and enterprise marketing, Hewlett-Packard.

Her definition: “[At HP,] we think about innovation as translating ideas into a meaningful impact for our customers. When we talk about innovation at HP, we mean innovation with a purpose.”

An example: “Counterfeit drugs are not as much an issue in the United States, but when you go into third-world countries, it’s a real problem. We don’t know much about counterfeit drugs, but we know a lot about counterfeit ink. We put together a partnership, and now drugs in Africa come with an area that you scratch off and see a number. You can send a free SMS text that goes to a database, which can tell you if the drug is actually what it should be.”

Caroline Strzalka, business development director, Sesame Workshop.

Her definition: “[At Sesame Workshop,] we define innovation as taking risks to make people’s lives better. It could be doing something that hasn’t really been done before or finding a workaround to a problem that currently exists.”

An example: “We’re working with [Microsoft’s Kinect technology] on Once upon a Monster, a new game coming out. We work with preschoolers, and for years, we’ve known that they don’t have the manual dexterity to handle normal controllers…. Sesame’s all about taking devices created predominantly for entertainment and figuring out how to make them educational.”

What does innovation mean to you? How are you seeing that definition play out at your firm?

Knowledge@Wharton