TheStar.com - General Electric sheds shining light on innovation An interesting short article on General Electric - of particular note is that GE is putting an end to the classic "big corp" strategy of regularly rotating their executives to give them exposure to several parts of the company. The reason for this change? The thought that a certain level of market understanding and instinct in order to be able to innovate within that area more effectively.

I wonder however, whether a balance of both wouldn't be better. The variety of experiences involved in the rotation strategy allows for not only a deeper understanding of the overall business picture - but also is more conducive to the sharing of best practices between business units. Also - the different viewpoints and perspective changes the manager is exposed to in his travels around the company would probably help them be more innovative as they apply the various viewpoints to existing problems. Interesting dilemma...