$152,000 for Your Thoughts

To draw out employees’ creativity, get tougher on them. Don’t let them get away with summarizing their ideas on simple forms. Make them prove their concepts’ viability, right from the start. That advice may sound counterproductive, considering the dearth of worthwhile innovations that are emerging from the rank and file. In our interviews over the […]

by

Gary Carini

and

Bill Townsend

by

Gary Carini

and

Bill Townsend

From the Magazine (April 2007)

Summary.

Reprint: F0704D

Making employees prove their ideas’ worth results in better concepts and more-motivated workers. Executives must give people the tools to stand behind their ideas and must follow up with strong rewards.

To draw out employees’ creativity, get tougher on them. Don’t let them get away with summarizing their ideas on simple forms. Make them prove their concepts’ viability, right from the start.

A version of this article appeared in the April 2007 issue of Harvard Business Review.

GC

Gary Carini (gary_carini@baylor.edu) is a professor of strategic management and the associate dean for graduate business programs at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business in Waco, Texas.
BT

Bill Townsend (bill.townsend@paybytouch.com) is the executive vice president of Pay By Touch, a biometric authentication and transaction company in San Francisco.

$152,000 for Your Thoughts

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