Just when I thought innovation—or "design thinking"—couldn't get much hotter, I see that BusinessWeek has launched a quarterly magazine within the magazine: Inside Innovation. In this mini-mag, innovation is hailed as "the new currency of competition ... the Holy Grail of 21st century business." But more interesting is Inside Innovation's choice for its top 25 Champions of Innovation (C-suite executives from Chief Innovation Officers to Chief Marketing Officers) who are hell-bent on transforming their companies' cultures in pursuit of design thinking: nearly 70% are women. Is this where two mega-trends in business (innovation and women's leadership) join forces for maximum impact? Has innovation cut a permanent hole in the ceiling?
