Try Innovation

There are dozens of ways to increase profits. You can cut costs, you can negotiate more aggressively, you can raise price. Perhaps, however, you want profits plus something more profound.

Try innovation.

Some companies excel at today’s business. Those companies keep the wheels of the economy turning. Other companies innovate. These are the companies that build a better economy for tomorrow and raise living standards for all.

The largest companies have mammoth resources at their disposal for innovation. And so it is, and so it should be, that the most storied innovators are always the underdogs — those working in the garage.

Your garage may be lonely, but you do not work alone. America stands behind its minority business enterprises and salutes its innovators. In particular, America honors its enterprising leaders of this generation and of generations past for their historic and continuing contribution to the America we take pride in today. To sustain its greatness, America must continue to foster innovation domestically, attract the most talented and energetic business leaders from around the world and put their skills to work in this nation.

America is a diverse nation today and will be a more diverse nation tomorrow. Nearly 20 percent of U.S. enterprises are minority-owned, and that percentage is rising. America’s minority population has passed the one hundred million mark, and that population is growing. The importance of a vibrant minority enterprise is high, and it will only get higher. Increasingly, the face of minority enterprise is the face of the American business. If innovation drives the American economy, then you, as a leader of a minority business enterprise, must be an agent of innovation.

Honest innovation researchers will acknowledge that you can learn as much from other innovators as you can from research. During the next few weeks we will walk in the shoes of many of your brethren in the world of minority enterprise. You will enjoy the stories. These innovation journeys can be your own, if you choose it.

Download The Sophisticated Innovator authored by Chris Trimble, Dartmouth College - Hanover, New Hampshire.