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Chad Hardaway: My vision of an Innovative Culture

Submitted by: Chad Hardaway on Aug 18, 2009 at 10:12 pm Tagged with: Innovation Source: University of South Carolina

My vision of an Innovative Culture is simply one where everyone is on board, ready to put their money where there mouth is, and in it for the long haul… in short, a culture committed to innovation.

We live in a time when people make initial commitments to innovation programs and efforts and then suck the resources and the life out of them as they fail to see short term results. Don’t get me wrong, we need accountability and due diligence in these programs, but a truly innovative culture handles failure and lack of short term results in a manner much like pruning a bush rather than pulling the entire bush out of the ground. People need to realize that cultures are formed as a result of a consistent effort and commitment toward a worthy goal.

Research Triangle Park in North Carolina is a result of a 30+ year consistent effort that required everyone, including state government and the universities, to be on board and make long term commitments. We, in SC, are tempted to look at Research Triangle Park and assume that if we pumped enough money and resources into an area that we could have instant Research Triangle Park in 3-5 years… southern version of course. Unfortunately, our world today is judged in the short term: In the shortest of extremes one financial quarter and in the longest of extremes one political election cycle. Neither of these cycles is conducive to the type of cycle required to produce a truly great innovation culture.

I could have written about getting better faculty, better education, building more buildings, adding more money to existing programs like SCLaunch and SBIR/ STTR grants… but these are all results… symptoms if you will… of a society that is committed to innovation. It all starts with the true commitment. From that everything else will follow.

Unfortunately, it will take things that we… and I… frequently lack: a true desire of an innovation culture that is greater than my love of self and my agendas, perseverance to stick it out when things get tough or discouraging, patience to wait for the good results, gentleness when dealing with failures, and most of all, self-control to regulate how we respond and react to the challenges of creating such a culture.

If you ask me how I can work on creating this culture, I will tell you that it all starts with me. If I am not on board, ready to put my money where my mouth is, and in it for the long haul… then I am not worthy of being the beneficiary of such a culture because I have no courage. We will only inherit a true innovation culture when we start to have enough courage to remain truly committed. Courage is compelling… when we start to lead with courage, everyone will follow because they will see the conviction in our eyes and the purpose in our step.

It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.