The Four Myths of Business Innovation, Myth #2: Non-profits are best suited to deliver innovation support

Jim Collins undoubtedly said it best when he discussed the entrepreneurial mindset needing to be pervasive throughout all hierarchal levels of a corporation (or by extension a not-for-profit (NFP) organization). If the mid-level managers in an organization are simply cogs in the machine and lack any autonomy whatsoever innovation comes to a grinding halt. This is a problem that can be faced by the private, public or NFP sectors; so why then is so much emphasis placed on incorporation status and not the cultural tendencies of the organization? Perhaps this is due to the misconception that profit is inherently evil and that ethical business models do not exist. The fact of the matter is that private and public organizations are becoming more reliant on one another to achieve progress and they both have their strengths.

Steps need to be taken to move away from the archaic, hierarchical state of innovation support currently being used and toward an ecological model. The onus should be upon the entrepreneur to choose the style of organization that best supplements the type of innovation they strive to create as seen below.

However, the unfortunate reality when it comes to support for innovation currently is that it is top-down by nature and lacks a true merit based approach. The people in the best position to choose which incubation services entrepreneurs use to encourage growth and innovation should be left to those who best understand the need. The entrepreneurs themselves. When an entrepreneur is in a position to choose which service delivery organization offers them the best value healthy competition is formed. This decision becomes entirely merit based as the entrepreneur makes a selection that will best allow the entrepreneur to succeed. Why is it then that currently a middleman chooses for the entrepreneur where innovation funding is best spent?