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How to cultivate a healthy culture of innovation

nnovate or die. It’s a binary choice for businesses in an environment where few things are black and white. But while business leaders understand that innovation is a crucial tool for survival, they’re often stymied by exactly how to apply the mechanics of creativity at their organization. In short, who owns innovation? Whose job is it to ensure that innovation is supported and nurtured? In many organizations, the chief information officer becomes the de facto steward of innovation. But is that the right choice?

FastCo Works spoke with LaVerne H. Council, a former CIO for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and Johnson and Johnson, who is now the national managing principal for Enterprise Technology Strategy and Innovation at Grant Thornton. She discussed whether innovation truly can be owned, why companies need to be flexible, and how digital dexterity can help companies survive and thrive in today’s hypercompetitive environment.

Blockchain FAQ

Blockchain technology has some amazing potential for today and tomorrow. The following questions introduce you to blockchain technology and how it’s already helping innovative teams achieve real value.

What is blockchain?

Brief Definition: Blockchain is a technology that can help track and transfer assets, record payments in smart contracts and memorialize interactions in a secure, trusted and transparent system. Blockchain provides enhanced trust as compared to traditional databases and applications, particularly as a way to exchange value without intermediaries.

Technical Elaboration: Blockchain architectures employ a distributed ledger and cryptographically-signed transactions, transformed into “blocks” to form a chain that is immutable and virtually impossible to forge and that allows for participants to audit any transaction with full transparency.