Geoff Nicholson, 3M ambassador and former vice president for international technical operations, was recently quoted as saying “Six Sigma ‘killed’ innovation at 3M.” His reasoning? The Six Sigma process requires a full-blown business case and even a 5-year business plan to get a new idea off the ground and into production. The result: a company once synonymous with innovation saw its new product introductions drop and ranking as a BCG innovative company plummet from....