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8/7/2019 Perspectives Innovation Langen 2009
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Published in: Ketchum Perspectives, Year 2009, Issue 3,
http://www.ketchumperspectives.com/archives/2009_i3/Communicating_and_Cultivating_Innovation/Ralf_Langen_Ins
piring_Innovation_Engaging_Employees.php
Inspiring Innovation: Engaging Employees Through Entrepreneurialism, Idea Fandom and Epistemaphilia
By Ralf Langen
Managing Partner, Germany, and European Head of Change & Transformation, Pleon
How big companies and large organizations can better manage their innovation processes –
and ultimately turn novel ideas into commercial success – is probably one of the most widely
researched and written‐about topics in management literature today. One clear conclusion
is that a certain organizational culture is essential.
How does a company build such a culture? At least three core ingredients are required:
entrepreneurialism, idea fandom, and epistemaphilia.
The first is fairly simple – entrepreneurs offer innovative solutions to frequently
unrecognized problems. In fact, distinguished management guru Peter Drucker notes that
"innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship." Innovative companies need
entrepreneurs and a consistent culture of entrepreneurialism that supports those who
innovate.
Understanding Fandom “Highly engaged employees, who are at the core of innovation power, have a strikingly
strong resemblance to self ‐organized groups that have long been marginalized and
stigmatized: fans.”
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The second ingredient, idea fandom, is best illustrated through companies that have it. They
include IBM (with its world‐famous collaborative innovation approach), and Linux (with its
forceful open source development)11. What do these two best‐practice examples have in
common?
They show that it is in the interstices of the human network – rather than in the minds of a
few wunderkinder – that most real innovations are born. They also illustrate a deeply
researched phenomenon of employee engagement: Engaged employees, as Gallup2 and
others show, are people who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their
company. They drive innovation and move the organization forward. Highly engaged
employees typically forget about time and space, they focus on current challenges even
when they are not directly involved, they invest free time and invite others in – being
"emotionally contagious" and passionate about things they feel need to be done.
Described like that, highly engaged employees, who are at the core of innovation power,
have a strikingly strong resemblance to self ‐organized groups that have long been
marginalized and stigmatized: fans. Now, thanks to Henry Jenkins, a professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the school’s Comparative Media
Studies program, we have a new definition of fandom. Jenkins describes it as being about
self ‐organizing groups focused on the collective production, debate and circulation of
meaning.
Real fandom, then, is not only about identification with and a devotion to "your" topic – be it
Star Trek , Beauty and the Beast , ER, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer . It is also about a unique
attitude and willingness when it comes to knowledge of all kinds. This is where the second
and third ingredients for innovative cultures are linked. Professor Jenkins calls this attitude
"epistemaphilia" – which he says is "not simply a pleasure in knowing but a pleasure in
exchanging knowledge."3
Aiding the Exchange of Knowledge Very much like fans discussing the subtleties of character relationships or technical features
important for narrative development, rich knowledge environments within corporations are
essential to bringing innovation forward. Also like fans distributed around the world with
only a few chances to regularly meet in person (Trekkies typically meet at fan conventions),
innovation communities within large organizations need to interact and share ideas based
on full transparency of one's own identity, the personal reputation as an expert in certain
categories and the full trust that the problem or issue that is raised is a real need around a
real case.
1 For the innovation practices at Linux, see the landmark article by Philip Evans and Bob Wolf, "Collaboration
Rules," in Harvard Business Review July/August 2005. 2 Gallup Management Journal: "Gallup Study – Engaged Employees Inspire Company Innovation", Oct 12 2006;
"Development Dimensions International, Employee Engagement – The Key to Realizing Competitive
Advantage," 2007, www.ddiworld.com; Sabine Stecher, "Why Engagement Matters?", in J.Klewes / R. Langen
(eds.); "Change 2.0 – Beyond Organizational Transformation," Heidelberg 2008 (Springer) 3 Henry Jenkins, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age, NYU Press, New York 2006.
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How does this trusted exchange of ideas best happen? Epistemaphilia,
like
any
cultural
attitude
based
on
love
and
devotion,
needs
a
framework.
To
promote the exchange of knowledge, a shared pool of knowledge or information that is
available to all members is needed as basis. And as a "breathing" function, universally
available tools for moving knowledge around are essential.
The knowledge pool has to be more than a limited section of the company intranet, but
rather a knowledge sphere that connects proprietary knowledge with the collective
intelligence of the Web, and with the web of partnerships and alliances. And the tools for
moving knowledge around need to be jams and jamming activities, where knowledge is
connected and further enriched with social grain.
Combined with blogs and bloggers as navigators through knowledge fields, as well as wikis
and Wikipedians acting as supporters and archivers, epistemaphilia can be a powerful
practice to boost innovation.
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