Editor’s Choices for Week Ending May 18, 2012

Article of the Week
3M’s Sustainability Innovation Machine  (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea:  3M’s sustainability leadership has come mainly from its eco-efficiency success, but these practices are increasingly the norm in business. With sustainability deeply integrated in 3M’s innovation pipeline, they have made sustainability a driver of business growth as well.

Editor’s Choice Articles
Is Your Company Fit for Growth (Strategy + Business)
Big Idea:  Fit-for-growth companies commit to a lean mind-set and are always honing their capabilities and cost structure, so they don’t have to undertake large programs every several years. They reorient themselves for growth as well, adjusting their resource deployment year after year. Most importantly, they do all this with a watchful eye on their unique value proposition and the distinctive capabilities that will allow them to grow.

How to Pick the Right Idea (Innovation Management)
Big Idea:  Imagine you have just finished a successful brainstorming session and you’re sitting in front of a long list of great ideas. Now what? Gijs van Wulfen shares five important learning’s on how to pick the right idea.

Financial Management for Innovation (Innovation Management)
Big Idea:  The capacity to capture, allocate, control, and utilize financial resources is fundamental to innovation. This blog provides a good primer around the questions that organizations should take into consideration when managing finances for their innovation portfolio.

Why Tech’s Hunger for Overnight Hits Is Bad For Business (Fast Company)
Big Idea:  New technology isn’t like a movie, a finished product that you either like or you don’t. High-quality tech products take time–after they’re released. It’s relatively easy to get a lot of people to check out your new thing but it takes more determined work, more trial and error, to keep them using your product. Look at all of Facebook’s redesigns, missteps, and reorganizations on the path to winning big.