Spring 2023 Management B8599 section 001

Corporate Innovator

Call Number 17135
Day & Time
Location
TR 3:50pm-5:20pm
570 GEFFEN HALL
Points 1.5
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor William R Duggan
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description This elective half-course offers key leadership skills and methods to help you pursue a new idea in a corporation. As the world economy changes faster and faster, internal innovation has become a core aim in more and more companies. Columbia MBAs are especially suited for this role: where you might work across the organization, with finance, marketing, operations, IT and senior management. Corporate innovator is one of the best jobs in business: the adventure of new ideas plus the stability of a steady paycheck.

Our material applies to any new idea, at any level, in any department, in any kind of organization: large and small businesses, non-profits, and government agencies. It is distinct from entrepreneurship (starting a new business) and organizational change (transforming a company). Here we take on the specific problem of how a single person – the corporate innovator – gets a single new idea through a single existing system.

Our material is distinct as well from innovation methods, such as Think Bigger, that help you get a new idea in the first place. In this course, we assume the innovator already has a new idea. We take up what happens next, to advance the idea in the organization. New ideas are different: no two people have the same exact view of your new idea, so you need a distinct strategy for each key person you encounter. In military terms, it’s hand-to-hand combat, person-by-person through the corporate labyrinth.

Class sessions consist of lecture and discussion on key aspects of the role of the corporate innovator, a review of examples that show corporate innovators in action, and in-class exercises. Requirements for the course are: do the readings, attend class, answer a Canvas survey question before each session, and send me a “Weekly Note” via Canvas. For extra credit, you can do a paper on some aspect of our course material, according to guidelines we cover in class.
Web Site Vergil
Department MANAGEMENT
Enrollment 32 students (45 max) as of 11:06AM Friday, March 29, 2024
Subject Management
Number B8599
Section 001
Division School of Business
Campus Morningside
Section key 20231MGMT8599B001