“U.S. Innovation” is a series highlighting speaker thoughts and ideas from The U.S. Innovation Summit, presented by FedScoop, held June 20, 2012, at The Newseum in Washington, D.C.
Symantec CEO Enrique Salem discusses innovation in this interview with FedScoopTV.
Key excerpts:
What ways are you trying to encourage innovation?
“When you think about innovation inside of a company like Symantec, what you have to do is think that innovation is not done by a small group of people in a small area or location. A lot of times people associate innovation with a small group of technologists. I think that is fundamentally wrong. Everyone inside the company is responsible and can drive innovation. You have to start with a culture that says innovation is important, great companies are built on innovation and we will reward it and recognize it.”
What trends are you seeing right now in innovation?
“There is tremendous opportunities because there are so many changes happening right now in technology. What do I mean by that? Mobility, cloud computing, these area of consumerization – I think these create great opportunities for innovation. I think we are in an environment where you can innovate in any of these new big areas.”
What do you think is critical for inspiring innovation?
“If you want to inspire innovation you have to make it clear there is no bad idea. You want people to try things. You have to have people feeling like if they try and are not successful than that’s ok, because most ideas – most great innovation – is rarely one individual.”
