• Are you innovative?
• Do you approach problems from a different perspective than the way we've always done it?
• Are your solutions to complex problems clever and imaginative?

Obviously, finance executives should not be too innovative when if comes to accounting (look where that led the Enron team) but we can use a few pointers from the marketing and product development leaders featured in Business Week's Champions of Innovation at Business Week online.

The article consists of a slide show featuring 25 "masters of innovation" including a picture of each business person and a brief write up on their innovation savvy and why Business Week felt their accomplishments were noteworthy.

The MAJORITY of Business Week's  innovation masters are women (17 of 25), and at least two have flexible schedules (job sharing; 4 day work week). Further evidence that workplace flexibility fuels performance.

I guarantee perusing the innovation master profiles for 10 minutes will re-charge your innovation engines – enjoy!