THOUGHTS | Balancing Risk and Innovation

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." – Pablo Picasso

Balancing risk and innovation is a necessary skill in today's economy, where the phrase "risk management" can mean so many things. Minimizing the amount of risk in a known competitive landscape used to be possible without disclosing things to competitors and the public through patents, but technology and the people using it have gotten smarter—and it is becoming easier to reverse engineer a design, or analyze the components in a composition of matter. While "keeping a secret" still has its benefits, "spreading the word" is far too easy with our internet-based, global community. With only one small leak—take a disgruntled client or customer, for example—you'll find the blueprints for your company's next ten years of profitability spread across the internet, and your bottom line around your knees.

Protecting intellectual property with the right tools can still mitigate the risk, and there are ways to use those tools to balance disclosure with secrecy. A good intellectual property program encompasses more than just patents. It seeks to establish solid internal trade secret practices, to gain control of joint development agreements and to establish policies and procedures for guests, visitors and employees that respect a company's level of comfort with the risk of technology disclosure. Without an established trade secret practice, even the best non-disclosure clauses in employment agreements become mediocre at best. How does an employee know what and what not to keep secret?

To learn more about balancing risk and innovation in the workplace, contact Jared Clark of Cutler & Donahoe, LLP by calling 605.335.4950. Jared Clark is a registered patent attorney with an office in Sioux Falls, SD. He is admitted to practice in South Dakota and the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. Cutler & Donahoe, LLP has attorneys licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well as various U.S. States.

This blog post is intended to provide only general information. It does not represent a legal opinion or advice regarding any particular case or issue. Transmission of the information is not intended to create, and receipt of the information does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. For legal advice on a specific matter, please seek the advice of counsel.

CONCEPT | Transforming Opportunities into Assets

"It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out of date."

— Roger von Oech

It's easier to say than to do: transforming opportunities into assets. Some think it's impossible, but by developing a culture of innovation within your workforce, the concept just works on its own.

IBM performed a recent study, asking 1,500 CEOs across the globe what they thought was the most important component of a leader. The answer they found—creativity (read: innovation). Eighty percent of these CEOs agree that today's business environment is complex, and growing more so, that they believe it demands new ways of thinking. Unfortunately, fifty percent of these CEOs didn't believe their companies were ready to deal with this growing complexity.

So how do you move your company from "not ready" to "ready" for the coming economy? Try some of these strategies.

The Model

Find success in your organization and duplicate it.

The Players

Find that passionate employee who always seem at the top of his game—and deconstruct the way he works. From this, develop a draft set of metrics by which to measure employees, and hold them to these. Help your workforce meet the metrics by removing distractions and preoccupations. How? Ask. Ask your employees about the challenges they face in your organization—the unmet needs, the way they are expected to work versus how they work best, the distractions. Ask what they need to be their best, and try to eliminate roadblocks so your employees come to work with more mental focus, physical energy and excitement about their job.

The Passion

Putting people in roles that don't intrigue or excite them is certainly one way to smother creativity. Think of a child's development, and how those children who are encouraged to follow their passions acquire a deeper knowledge, are more dedicated, and are less defeated when they run headfirst into a setback. Try to give all employees the opportunity to be themselves and follow their interests, encouraging them to truly express the genius they have locked up inside.

The Time

Thinking creatively requires time. Uninterrupted time. Unfortunately, uninterrupted time is a closely guarded asset; one that is overbudgeted and hard to come by. Promote the creativity that leads to innovation by providing time for creative thinking. Slowing down, in this model, will help you get ahead.

Overview: Creativity Casting Assets from Intangeables

When employees are truly plugged-in to their work, their workplace, and their peers, great things happy. This synergistic combination propels the workforce to develop solutions to a level of greatness not otherwise possible. By systematically developing a work environment that nurtures this synergy, a company can go from "out of date" and "out of touch" to an industry leader, with the latest solutions to society's latest problems. Companies can hang on to a particular product for only so long before society designs something better. Systematic efforts to out-design or out-invent the competitor can result in new product lines, business expansion, and a bottom line to be proud of. The challenge is starting. The best strategy is to start now.

To learn more about protecting proprietary information in the workplace, or for information on whether your idea can be patented, contact Jared Clark of Cutler & Donahoe, LLP by calling 605.335.4950. Jared Clark is a registered patent attorney with an office in Sioux Falls, SD. He is admitted to practice in South Dakota and the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. Cutler & Donahoe, LLP has attorneys licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well as various U.S. States.

In the Details

Commentary on Creativity, Innovation and Human Accomplishment.

THOUGHTS | Balancing Risk and Innovation

CONCEPT | Transforming Opportunities into Assets