Innovation is the name of the game for companies these days. Everyone wants to be an innovator, and yet sometimes it seems like we’ve already thought of everything.
Google, one of the world’s respected leaders on innovation, puts time for play and curiosity at the top of the list for innovation fuel. In a New York Times article on the matter, they share that “Google engineers are encouraged to take 20 percent of their time to work on something company-related that interests them personally.”
This seems to have really paid off for the company, but also for the engineers who have the autonomy to explore their own interests in ways that benefit the community at large. Read the full article at the NY Times here.
Does your company allow any type of freedom like this in your job? What would it be like if more companies adopted this, and what would the domino affect be? Would you enjoy having this freedom, and what would you do with that time? Do you have any experiences or learnings to share? Tell us about it! We’d love to hear.