Innovation is a popular buzzword in the business world today. Everyone wants to be the next Apple or Facebook, revolutionizing their products and services by creating the next iPad or Zappos-style service model. But they don’t. They can’t.

Most companies pump out the same old gadgets and services, placing more of a focus on cost and efficiency than creativity. They are so tied to Wall Street’s demands to “grow or die” that they are rarely able to get a fresh idea into the starter phase.

Many companies today are anti-innovative without even realizing it. And without a renewed focus on innovation, U.S. companies will continue to see a decline in international competitiveness.

Today’s companies are structured based on scale, efficiency, and execution. With such rigid structures in place, it can be difficult to move any growth initiative through an organization, let alone create groundbreaking innovation.

Growth exploration and innovation are inherently messy and seemingly inefficient—the complete opposite of how big corporations want to run—and they don’t and won’t happen overnight. That is a hard pill to swallow in today’s “do more with less” environment.

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