ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, I pointed to two rather different ways in which innovation is understood in mainstream management thinking. From the first perspective, innovations originate in the minds of reasoning individuals who identify unsatisfied market and organizational needs, set goals for the innovation and then deduce how they might be met. The process of realizing the innovation goals is governed by self-regulating planning systems. From the second perspective, innovations originate in the minds of intuitive, creative, heroic individual entrepreneurs and product champions. The process of realizing the innovation is governed by political and cultural systems, and those systems conducive to innovation are characterized by particular kinds of values or beliefs, and by particular kinds of visionary, charismatic leadership.
