Gary Hamel

To create an organization that's adaptable and innovative, people need the freedom to challenge precedent, to 'waste' time, to go outside of channels, to experiment, to take risks and to follow their passions. ”

In an ideal world, an individual's institutional power would be correlated perfectly with his or her value-add. In practice, this is seldom the case. ”

If corporate leaders and their acolytes are not slaves to some meritorious social purpose, they run the risk of being enslaved by their own ignoble appetites. ”

Management innovation is going to be the most enduring source of competitive advantage. There will be lots of rewards for firms in the vanguard. ”

The biggest barriers to strategic renewal are almost always top management's unexamined beliefs. ”

A titled leader relies heavily on positional power to get things done; a natural leader is able to mobilize others without the whip of formal authority. ”

The real damper on employee engagement is the soggy, cold blanket of centralized authority. In most companies, power cascades downwards from the CEO. Not only are employees disenfranchised from most policy decisions, they lack even the power to rebel against egocentric and tyrannical supervisors. ”

Top-down authority structures turn employees into bootlickers, breed pointless struggles for political advantage, and discourage dissent. ”

A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance. ”

You have to train people how to be business innovators. If you don't train them, the quality of the ideas that you get in an innovation marketplace is not likely to be high. ”