P&G Canada's President, Tim Penner listed 10 steps to drive innovation in a corpotate culture at a Feburary 2008 CMA Business of Ideas Forum:
Specifically, successful leaders:
#10 - Invite creative ideas from the outside.
#9 - Recognize that real creativity comes from an acquired depth of knowledge.
#8 - Pull people together that aren't used to working together. Often such a group will come up with solutions you hadn't thought of.
#7 - Create a culture that faces reality head-on.
#6 - Value diverse ideas and people.
#5 - Recognize that failure is a pre-requisite of success.
#4 - Understand that fear of failure and habit are the biggest obstacles to innovation.
#3 - Start with a "stretching" goal to encourage breakthrough ideas. In some cases, the goal may not be achievable early on, but it will provide the incentive for people to come up with new, innovative solutions.
#2 - Create the "smell of the place", own the culture and are responsible for creating a work environment that is conducive to breakthrough innovation.
#1 - Recognize that breakthrough ideas often come from unexpected places. In this regard, it's important to consider whether you run an "open-minded" organization and are set up to discover unexpected connections between brands that might be at first perceived as unrelated.