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 [ ... ]