Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcast
  • Managing the Future of Work Podcast
  • About Us
  • Book
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Podcasts
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Innovation
    04 Mar 2014Sharpening Your Skills

    Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Innovation

    Sharpening Your Skills curates a wide range of Harvard Business School's research and ideas around vital topics in business management.
    LinkedIn
    Email

    Should managers lead innovation or get out of the way? It's not an either/or decision. Executives of some great innovative companies—Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg—are active participants in creation, getting their hands dusty in the digital dirt, writing code or copy, or inspring employees to raise their creative game.

    But Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has a different approach, creating an organization that values and rewards innovation rather than attempting to create it with his bare hands. AG Lafley, P&G's chief executive, revivied the company by instilling an ethos of "innovation is everyone's job."

    Dozens of faculty at Harvard Business School are focused on the subject of managing innovation. Some look at it by examining processes while others view through the lens of history. For example, Clay Christensen has pieced together the "innovator's DNA" while Lynda Applegate teaches "innovation is not an option."

    We've identified articles and working papers covering a wide range of thinking about innovation management to answer some specific questions you may have about tapping the creativity buried in your company:

    Is Workplace Transparency Good For Innovation?

    Hiding From Managers Can Increase Your Productivity

    Would you be suspicious of employees who drew a curtain around themselves? What if you knew the curtain was specifically to block your prying managerial eyes? Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ethan S. Bernstein explains why decreasing workplace transparency can increase productivity.

    Do Creative Types Need To Be Managed Differently?

    Culture Changers: Managing High-Impact Entrepreneurs

    In her new Harvard Business School course, Creative High-Impact Ventures: Entrepreneurs Who Changed the World, professor Mukti Khaire looks at ways managers can team with creative talent in six "culture industries": publishing, fashion, art-design, film, music, and food.

    Can Creativity Be Taught?

    Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity

    As global competition intensifies, it's more important than ever that companies figure out how to innovate if they are going to maintain their edge, or maintain their existence at all. Six Harvard Business School faculty share insights on the best ways to develop creative workers.

    Can An Alarm Clock Be Innovative?

    HBS Cases: Clocky, the Runaway Alarm Clock

    There had not been an innovative breakthrough in alarm clock design since the snooze button until entrepreneur Gauri Nanda created Clocky. Her runaway hit has been the inspiration for several cases written by Professor Elie Ofek.

    Should I Crowdsource My Solutions?

    Markets or Communities? The Best Ways to Manage Outside Innovation

    No one organization can monopolize knowledge in any given field. That's why modern companies must develop a new expertise: the ability to attract novel solutions to difficult or unanticipated problems from outside sources around the world. A conversation with Harvard Business School professor Karim R. Lakhani on the keys to managing distributed innovation.

    What Does Nasa's "faster, Better, Cheaper" Teach About Innovation?

    Mission to Mars: It Really Is Rocket Science

    Do the successful Mars missions mean NASA again has the right stuff? Alan MacCormack dissects the space agency's "Faster, Better, Cheaper" program.

    To Read More:

    ARTICLES

    HBS Cases: LEGO

    Stephan Thomke on managing creativity for 80 years.

    Lean Strategy Not Just for Start-Ups

    The power of 'lean' start-ups, according to Scott Cook.

    How Small Wins Unleash Creativity

    Teresa M. Amabile's big wins from small steps.

    Five Discovery Skills that Distinguish Great Innovators

    Clay Christensen on "The Innovator's DNA."

    WORKING PAPERS

    Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad

    Innovation is not a side business, says Lynda Applegate.

    Mechanisms of Technology Re-Emergence and Identity Change in a Mature Field: Swiss Watchmaking

    Ryan Raffaelli discovers new markets for old technologies.

    Organization Design for Distributed Innovation

    Designing organizations ready for distributed innovation, by Carliss Y. Baldwin.

      Trending
        • 14 Mar 2023
        • In Practice

        What Does the Failure of Silicon Valley Bank Say About the State of Finance?

        • 16 Mar 2023
        • Research & Ideas

        Why Business Travel Still Matters in a Zoom World

        • 25 Jan 2022
        • Research & Ideas

        More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

        • 25 Feb 2019
        • Research & Ideas

        How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

        • 13 Mar 2023
        • Op-Ed

        How Leaders Should Leave

    Ethan S. Bernstein
    Ethan S. Bernstein
    Edward W. Conard Associate Professor of Business Administration
    Contact
    Send an email
    → More Articles
    Karim R. Lakhani
    Karim R. Lakhani
    Dorothy and Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration
    Contact
    Send an email
    → More Articles
    Alan D. MacCormack
    Alan D. MacCormack
    MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration
    Contact
    Send an email
    → More Articles
    Elie Ofek
    Elie Ofek
    Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing
    Co-Unit Head, Marketing
    Contact
    Send an email
    → More Articles
    Find Related Articles
    • Innovation and Management
    • Creativity

    Sign up for our weekly newsletter

    Interested in improving your business? Learn about fresh research and ideas from Harvard Business School faculty.
    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
    ǁ
    Campus Map
    Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
    Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
    Soldiers Field
    Boston, MA 02163
    Email: Editor-in-Chief
    →Map & Directions
    →More Contact Information
    • Make a Gift
    • Site Map
    • Jobs
    • Harvard University
    • Trademarks
    • Policies
    • Accessibility
    • Digital Accessibility
    Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College