Forbes: How Your CEO Can Make Or Break Your Innovation Culture

November 20, 2019

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Most of the focus on innovation is on the ability to innovate and execute, but there is one area that is often overlooked: the CEO role as a catalyst for innovation.

It turns out the CEO has a statistically significant influence on a company’s innovation and performance through R&D investments. This is especially true in R&D-intensive industries, such as the pharmaceutical sector. A CEO’s research orientation is a good indicator of a company’s motivation to innovate and ultimately affects innovation outcomes. Research-centric CEOs create the organizational conditions to foster innovation like supporting research-oriented managers to innovate, increase their managerial discretion and allocate more resources to R&D. This, in turn, helps innovation thrive.

The findings from the study are important to the board of directors, shareholders and investors, as a CEO’s characteristics on innovation are an important indicator for long-term company success and shareholder value.

Innovative CEO

According to the study, the research orientation of CEOs has a positive statistically significant effect on higher innovation outcomes. Research orientation refers to CEOs with a Ph.D. in science or technology, academic or R&D experience, and those who hold patents. Their technical background helps them better understand and appreciate the earlier stages of novel research and development, including experimentation, uncertainty, failure and time to maturity. They intimately recognize that an iterative approach that often requires patience is necessary to produce profound new technologies. This runs counter to less research-oriented CEOs who view R&D as an expense and not as a driver of growth.

To read the full article, visit Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2019/11/19/how-your-ceo-can-make-or-break-your-innovation-culture/

About Scott Amyx

Managing Partner at Amyx Ventures, Top Global Innovation Keynote Speaker, TEDxWallStreet, Forbes, Singularity U., SXSW, IBM Futurist, Tribeca Fellow