it should come as no surprise that Google was named the worlds most innovative company in the March issue of Fast Company. What is surprising to me though is how many companies are still trying to fight against innovation and not providing an environment where it is embraced. Granted we can’t all be Google when it comes to incubating innovation, they require employees to spend a minimum of 4 hour a week working on non-Google projects for example, I do think that there is a lot that smaller more locally based companies can learn from the likes of Google. So here are my top 5 things that apply to small businesses:

1. Release products fast- Then fine tune them to work. This builds a buzz and a fan base, and then keeps those people interested as you are continually improving the product instead of having long development periods.
2. Keep things simple- Travel policies(don’t overspend), Employee Assimilation(Just have them start doing their job), Company Policies(Use common sense)
3. Except for Hiring- This is the exception to keeping things simple, in fact it is what enables you to keep things simple. If you are making hiring a big process then you can be sure you are getting people who you can trust with simple policies and procedures.
4. When in doubt, Do something- If you have two paths and you’re not sure which is right, take the fastest path. Whats true in physics is true with product creation/Business. Once you get a car in motion it is easier to steer then if it just sitting in a parking lot.
5. Create Fearlessness- Google instills a sense fearlessness in it’s employees. they are not afraid to take on big tasks, they are not afraid to speak up with a crazy idea(in fact if they do it will probably become the next great product), they are not afraid if they don’t know how to do something(they figure it out), they are not afraid because the Google enviroment creates a sense of fearlessness when it comes to innovation. Even if they fail they aren’t going to lose their jobs for trying out a new product. They will probably just try to refine it and relaunch it.

So what can you learn from Google?

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Business, Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.