Speaking the <i>Lingua Franca</i> of Innovation

Innovation is a discipline, a body of knowledge like any other. Unfortunately, our understanding and practice of innovation today is roughly where our understanding of the ?quality? discipline was two or three decades ago. Consequently, we see a lot of executives stumbling in their initiatives. The good news is that, like all disciplines, innovation can be learned, practiced and mastered. As all innovation happens in a community, and the fundamental basis for the superior performance of any community is having a common language, then managers need to learn the lingua franca of innovation ? its structures, principles and concepts, methodologies and processes, frameworks and tools. As such, the first step to create a community of innovators is to teach them the lingua franca of innovation. Only then will the community be able to practice and master the discipline of innovation.