Innovative Culture: Values, Principles and Practices of Senior Executives in Highly Innovative Companies

The behavior of senior executives in the way they exercise leadership is a key driving factor for the capacity to innovate and transform a company. This chapter shows the role of top executives in highly innovative companies and their way of exercising leadership in advancing innovation. It presents a framework drawn from examples of best practices related to top management in three aspects: what drives them in their efforts to lead the transformation of their businesses (a challenge, an ideal or a dream that makes sense to those who must make it happen), how they direct progress towards this ideal, and how they face the adversities that arise in the transformation of the organization toward that goal. These practices are key to the institutionalization of values, principles and practices that shape corporate culture, and jointly determine the innovation quality and strength of the most innovative companies in the world.