[Sigia-l] Re: Large Orgs

[Listera]

"Lyle_Kantrovich at cargill.com" wrote:

> I'll concede that smaller firms can be more innovative, especially if
> you're talking about breakthrough innovations, but that doesn't mean
> that all small firms innovate or that big ones can't.

First of all, we are generalizing here, I hope that's obvious.

Second, there are always exceptions.

Third, if you actually delve into the histories of inventions/innovations
coming out of large orgs, you'll see a pattern: the germ or the initial
conception of the notion starts outside the large org or, more likely, is
started by an iconoclastic individual or a intrapreneurial /skunkworks team
inside. Very rarely will you see inventions/innovations designed/developed
by a committee. It's the individual or the small, agile, focused, obsessed
swat team that produces these.

Perhaps the most obvious example of this trend was the dotcom era. For all
of its excesses, stupidities financial ruin, there was also a lot of
innovation going on during those years at many levels. The vast majority of
those came from small startups. In fact you'd be stretched to find examples
from large orgs.

So here's the secret formula: if you want to change the world, begin at a
startup and then sell out to a large org. :-)

Ziya
Nullius in Verba