Lisa Seacat DeLuca is the Director & Distinguished Engineer of Emerging Solutions within the AI Applications business unit within IBM currently focused on modernizing our Weather Business Solutions and the Aviation portfolios. Lisa holds a Masters of Science in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, and a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University with minors in Business Administration and Multimedia Productions.
Director Emerging Solutions, Distinguished Engineer
Lisa Seacat Deluca
IBM
What is the role of the C-Suite in empowering in-novation?
[ ... ] On the other hand, I think that C-Suites can squash innovation - for example, when people feel that they are always being told ‘no’ without a justification they can become disheartened. A lot of C-Suites are all about the strategy and vision of the company and moving towards “how do we grow as a business”? So, in many cases, they just have to say no. But it is important for the C-Suite to understand how to say no in a way that still encourages their employees to continue to grow, and focus their innovation towards the projects that matter to the company.
It’s important to include people in the decision-making process. By dictating to people "This is how it's going to be done", you’ll likely get a lot of pushback, while the decisions have already been made. This de-feats the purpose, and people get upset and angry.
But if you include people in the decision-making process, and you hear both sides of why it's a good or bad idea, then as a group, everyone feels like their voices are heard, when trying to figure out what the ultimate decision or direction of the company is going to be. That’s one mistake, a lot of the C suite do - just share the outcome as opposed to including people in that decision-making process [ ... ]
"
Read the complete answer and 122 more responses from 60 leaders on 22 questions: download the free eBook