In unstable environments, there is no sustainable competitive advantage, only multiple temporary competitive advantages. If this is true, small-to-mid-sized firms may be the big earners of our time.
A 2007 McKinsey Global Survey revealed that 70 percent of corporate leaders call innovation one of their top three priorities. They believe that breakthrough (or radical) innovation will have the greatest affect on corporate performance. The report shows that these leaders agree — “innovation is the best strategic decision for sustainable competitive advantage.” Yet these same leaders report that strategies for spurring innovation in their companies elude them. Too many barriers exist. Why?
It is not easy to change our natural inclination to seek out similarity. The process starts with moving away from the unconscious urge to seek for likeness and toward the conscious acceptance of dissimilarity. In addition to finding team members who differ from you in terms of education, ethnicity, geographic origin, etc., try to also find team members among people that are multidimensional and cross-trained in different areas. These folks possess ‘associative fluency,’ a quality that allows them to make connections about ideas and applications, rather that “tunneling” into specific domains when a wider view is needed.