The innovation dilemma

PETER Drucker reminded us, in Managing in a time of Great Change, that "every organization-not just business-needs one competence: innovation." While much is said and written about innovation, organizations struggle to do innovation. Part of the difficulty arises, because we lack an agreed upon definition of innovation. We confuse invention with innovation. We treat innovation as some Eureka moment. We hear people speak of innovation in science and engineering; such usage of the word innovation leads to confusion.PETER Drucker reminded us, in Managing in a time of Great Change, that "every organization-not just business-needs one competence: innovation." While much is said and written about innovation, organizations struggle to do innovation. Part of the difficulty arises, because we lack an agreed upon definition of innovation. We confuse invention with innovation. We treat innovation as some Eureka moment. We hear people speak of innovation in science and engineering; such usage of the word innovation leads to confusion.