Selected Comments on: "Does being active in a professional society increase innovation for individuals & their employers?"
from Linkedin (click for the full response information)
""Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth." - Peter Drucker
"When we think about diversity in the work place should we just jump to race, sex, ethnicity, etc? IMO, we should look at diversity of thought. Professional organization bring the diversity in a focused manner. Activity in these organizations allows sharing of solutions within disciplines but across industries. What we need to also do is challenge ourselves to look at other ways we might benefit from diversifying and to what outlets we need to go to in order to receive that benefit. That is where entrepreneurship takes hold, the risk of doing something different. Can an electrical engineer benefit from knowledge or insight into say the textile industry?
"According to Drucker the purpose of a business is to Innovate and Market. Are our companies doing this? Are our companies tolerable of the risk with doing this?"
Jon Van Volkinburg
"This is the beauty of networking that may be expressed in the goal of sharing with other colleagues, all the different angles of a business perspective that is enough suggestive to provoke a flux of ideas, and consequently, meaningful innovation with true business value."
Octavio Ballesta
"Yes, exposure to new/alternate ideas, plus cross-fertilization of ideas, both within and outside the organization..."
Frank Feather
"From my own perspective - IEEE involvement has greatly enhanced my network of people to bounce ideas off, learn new things from, and pointed me in new directions. The BOK in the lEEE library is also extremely valuable as a researcher"
Wayne Pauley
"Being active in a professional society provides endless learning opportunities."
Joy Montgomery
"Why just talk to people in the next cubicle when you can make use of experience from people that are not just like you or your organization."
Lee Stogner
"...my employers have always understood the value of new knowledge and contacts that I have from my membership in the CS, because of the ways in which I have been able to use that knowledge or call on other CS volunteers/members to benefit my projects and staff."
Sorel Reisman
"Interesting question. I think the mentioned traits and behaviors may not be related (as in cause and effect), but rather common traits, or even related traits."
Luis Figarella
"I think this is more a function of asking busy people to get stuff done. If you are inclined to be active in IEEE, you are probably inclined to have innovative ideas"
Eric Burger