Sure, the old saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words." But researchers at the University of Minnesota are challenging that phrase in their paper "Managing the Future: CEO Attention and Innovation Outcomes." According to researchers, predicting the future innovation of firms comes down to the words of the company's CEO. "By simply counting the number of future oriented sentences in annual reports we can predict future innovation by the firm," said Rajesh Chandy, professor of marketing at the university's Carlson School of Management and a co-author of the study. The paper, which will be published in the Journal of Marketing, suggests that when CEOs focus on future events and external activities, they can inspire and motivate innovation in the workplace. Chandy advises CEOs to shy away from internal problems that can bog them down, and instead turn their attention toward the big picture.