Innovating through Tough Times
by: Eric Starkloff
What do Hewlett-Packard, FedEx, and CNN have in common? 
Believe it or not, these companies were founded during difficult economic times (1939, 1973, and 1980, respectively). What about product innovations like nylon and the iPod? You guessed it. They were also developed and released in weak economies (1935 and 2001). It turns out that these examples aren’t anomalies. Adversity can help spur innovation.
I have been researching this phenomenon to understand what lessons it may hold for us facing the challenges of the current global recession. It is clear that innovation is the lifeblood of high-tech companies. And when I refer to innovation, I don’t just mean lightning-bolt ideas that only happen in a research lab. I mean the ideas that all of us—test engineers, design engineers, and researchers alike—apply to improving the processes and products that we work on every day. In these tough economic times, innovation is important not just to keep your companies competitive but to keep you competitive as well.
But how do you innovate in a time when resources are scarce and the business world has collectively become risk averse? I use the term “lean innovation” to describe the type of innovation that is most effective with these constraints. I believe there are three key attributes of successful lean innovation: doing more with less, proving it, and leveraging networks.
