Why Innovators Make Terrible Firefighters

Executives and managers in corporations are like fire fighters, rushing around to fix urgent problems like angry customers, major product failure, or quality issues. However, fire fighting is poor for innovation because it is focused on restoring order and returning to the status quo. Fire fighting is about convergence, while innovation is about divergence. Innovation activities become overwhelmed and subsumed into fire fighting, since that’s where the experience and glory lies. Divorcing the concepts of fire fighting and innovation, demanding more innovation, and making it as rewarding as firefighting are the solutions.