Innovation Without Limits: The Power of Big Ideas Over Money and Influence
What would you choose to foster innovation if you could only pick one?
Money, Influence, or a Big Idea?
I am a firm believe that all you need is a big idea.
In 2018, I was moved to take action to accelerate my then company, AbbVie, to reach their public environmental sustainability targets to reduce water, waste, energy, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions after reading a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change. Despite hearing about climate change my whole life with a science teacher mom, I had not realized the urgency until this data. I boldly submitted a question to our CEO asking how might every employee get involved to accelerate action to reach AbbVie’s public targets? My question did not make it to the meeting. Instead, it was directed to colleagues who were responsible for this work. I formed a friendship with one of these leaders, and in 2019, without any money or influence, we launched AbbVie’s Spark Innovation Accelerator. Every employee, not just the “experts,” was invited to submit their big idea on how AbbVie could reduce water, energy, waste, or GHG emissions. We hoped for 20 ideas; we got 110! The ideas were all reviewed, and eight winners were selected. They scoped their idea in January 2020 and began their 10 months of action to pilot their idea as a volunteer on top of their day job from February to November. Who knew a global pandemic was about to be unleashed in March?! Surely, AbbVie’s Spark Innovation Accelerator was doomed to fail. Yet the power of innovating and collaborating in a safe environment to learn if their idea would work bubbled up hope and excitement, and Spark's work persevered through the pandemic. In June, we decided to make Spark an annual invitation. AbbVie published a story on 5 June 2020 for World Environment Day to feature some of the first-year winning Spark teams. Four years later, with 51 winning Spark teams from 11 countries, AbbVie published their cumulative impact in the 2023 Environment Social Governance Report on page 17:
“AbbVie’s Spark Innovation Accelerator program encourages teams to submit big, bold ideas to help AbbVie reduce its environmental footprint and achieve its sustainability goals. The selected teams have been supported for over 10 months to develop their suggestions into viable solutions. Since its launch in 2019, the program has supported 51 winning initiatives, helping reduce our carbon emissions by 7,000 metric tons of CO2e, save 1.6 million kWh of energy, cut water use by 46,000 cubic meters, and prevent 600 metric tons of waste from going to landfill through reduction or reuse.”
I am excited to share more about my work fostering innovation at AbbVie at this Thursday’s Webinar, Innovate from Any Seat, hosted by Lake Forest Graduate School. Please set aside 45 minutes to join this free virtual discussion and be inspired.
All you need are big ideas!
