A Commitment to Innovation

Innovation is one of those words that gets tossed around liberally in today’s business and technology environments. In the bestselling book “Innovation: Driving Product, Process and Market Change,” author and MIT professor Edward Roberts compiles articles providing insights on achieving successful innovation. Many scholars, business leaders and technologists believe innovation lies at the heart of economic success

Clayton M. Christensen, author of the bestselling book “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” looked at how and why companies fail when it comes to innovation. Christensen argued that, very often, it isn’t because company executives make bad decisions, but rather because they make good decisions – the same kind of good decisions that made those companies successful for decades. (The “innovator’s dilemma” is that “doing the right thing is the wrong thing.”)

Christensen is widely recognized as the originator of the term “disruptive innovation.” Disruptive innovation can be defined as an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market-leading firms, products and alliances. Examples include innovations by Southwest Airlines, Netflix and Uber.

There are 2 two core principles of our company’s culture that shape our approach to innovation: humility and respect. Having humanity and being humble mean being intellectually honest and recognizing that none of us, individually, has all the answers. It also means having an accurate sense of self-worth based on your strengths, limitations and contributions. Remaining humble keeps us grounded, willing to listen and open to feedback.

Respect goes together with humility and entails treating everyone with honesty, dignity and sensitivity. It also includes embracing different perspectives, experiences, aptitudes, knowledge and skills to leverage the power of diversity. The respect we consistently demonstrate toward each other creates an honest, collaborative environment in which everyone has the freedom and confidence to share – and to challenge ideas and opinions, ultimately fostering authentic innovation.

For the thousands of Molex employees worldwide, innovation means teamwork. We often bring together team members from around the world to create an exceptional multidisciplinary team – starting with a nucleus of individuals who are constantly searching for new ideas, new technologies and new products. Innovation teams also include engineers from various backgrounds (e.g., electrical, mechanical and chemical) and testing specialists, as well as individuals who have manufacturing and operational expertise.

Molex was also selected by the editors of Autonomous Vehicle Technology (AVT) magazine for the second year in a row as a recipient of the ACES Award, in the category of Connectivity, for its next-gen solution that fuses a telematic control unit (TCU) to an antenna in a sleek, hidden design. Winners of the AVT ACES awards are evaluated and chosen based on editor, industry expert and reader input. Only the most innovative technologies, products and services of the year in the areas of vehicle autonomy, connectivity, electrification and mobility services (ACES) are considered.

Growing from a small, local enterprise in Chicago’s western suburbs to one of the leading connector companies in the world, Molex has built a legacy of innovation while also remaining focused on solving our customers’ current challenges. Molex employees are proud to be recognized as innovators, but we take the most delight in nurturing a culture grounded in humility and respect that continues to foster our innovative successes, enabling us to “take on tomorrow.”