GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

Innovation Not for the Sake of Innovation

A good idea is about ten percent. Implementation, hard work, and luck is 90 percent. —  Guy Kawasaki

The very purpose of innovation is to change things up, move processes forward, and disrupt the status quo. “Innovation for the sake of innovation” is a misuse of a very powerful and beneficial tool. Innovating in a vacuum can lead to an empty shell, leaving behind wasted human and financial resources, demoralized company morale, and a potentially counterproductive if not downright destructive outcome in its wake.

Innovation is more than just generating the next big idea—it involves how you both implement the ideas that make it out of the gate and build the culture to sustain the creation of those ideas. Thus, innovation’s ability to modify strategy is critical.

With that said, the implementation of innovation must exist separately and distinctly from your overall corporate strategy. Within the history of an organization, there are typically moments when the need for innovation becomes crystal clear—perhaps it may be catalyzed by a long draught of revenue growth, a succession of lost bids, or a competitor’s new product. Whatever the tipping-point, the first step toward creating a sustained culture of innovation is to lay the groundwork for building the organizational capability for innovation. The climate for innovation can only thrive when every aspect of the organization promotes the creativity, engagement, and acceptance of the change that is required.

How Do You Spell Innovation?

The original Robert’s Rules of Innovation laid out a fundamental framework of 10 Key Imperatives to help everyone from novices to experts Create and Sustain Innovation in order to Innovate and Thrive in this competitive marketplace. These 10 imperatives conveniently spelled out the acronym I-N-N-O-V-A-T-I-O-N.

To get results, a structured, repeatable innovation process is essential. Look to all 10 imperatives of Robert’s Rules of Innovation:

If there is no plan for implementing innovation, the biggest and brightest innovative ideas will dim and ultimately go dark. Why does all the hard work and energy directed toward creation of innovation efforts so frequently end up going down the drain? The predominant reason: the inability of the organization to implement the innovation plans. Innovation without implementation is mere ideation—don’t get stuck floating aimlessly in the clouds with your ideas. It takes more than a brainstorm to drive innovation success.

Innovation is both art and science—to get results, you need the structured repeatable process which is why I created the framework set forth in Robert’s Rules of Innovation’s 10 Key Imperatives. A key to successful, long-term innovation implementation is the willingness and effort to break down this daunting goal into structured areas of focus. Hence, Robert’s Rules of Innovation II: The Art of Implementation. Generally speaking, implementing innovation has three parts, and you will find that the topics covered in Robert’s Rules of Innovation II naturally fall into three distinct areas:

1. The “Big Ideas” of Implementation
2. The “People Aspects” of Implementation
3. The “Process” of Implementation

The “Big Ideas” of Implementation

“Innovation” as a term began taking root in the 19^th century alongside the Industrial Revolution. At the time, it was an acronym for invention. While the meaning of term has evolved, one thing remains constant: innovation is just as much of a competitive necessity now as it was then. As discussed in RROI II, when it comes to enabling the big ideas and execution, for the best chance of success, it’s critical to:

Create your innovation mantra (and stick to it!): The best mantra’s inform a company’s everyday decisions and are actionable statements of intent. I advise leaders to set corporate and/or group goals and create a motto that communicates this common purpose. For example, at one company I led, we boldly stated our innovation mantra as “One Innovation per Year”—and most importantly, we doggedly stuck to it. Other examples of innovation mantra are “Be Relentless” and “Inspire Innovation”.

You get the idea. Build your organized work culture of innovation step-by-step, stone-by-stone. Build consensus, reinforce ideas, underscore the need for accountability, follow the rules of innovation, and watch out for and then counter innovation assassins, which are yet another barrier to making your innovative culture stick. When your team feels insecure, whether that insecurity is justified or not, they are more prone to Innovation Assassination. Resistance can take many forms: from open dissent to covert subterfuge. But in any form, it is a threat to innovation implementation.

Countering Innovation Assassination

The first step to countering innovation assassinations is by acknowledging its existence. Second, is to understand why. Lastly, it can be hard to mitigate these would-be assassins, but the best approach is by reinforcing a culture that accepts and even encourages disruption and risk. One of Pixar’s mantras is “Be wrong as fast as we can”; Google’s phrase is “Fail well”; and as discussed in RROI, I’m a fan of the saying “Fail fast and fail cheap”. Risk often translates into failure, so make sure failure is seen and experienced as a “Learning Experience”.

You just read Part 1 of a three-part series on Innovation and the Art of Implementation. Check back on the blog soon for Part 2 (“The People Aspects of Innovation”) and Part 3 (“The Process of Innovation”).

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

Those who are plugged in know that technology is a swift changing animal—a shapeshifter always in flux, moving forward at a terabit-fast pace. Keeping up with every new buzz and innovation is undoubtedly whiplash-inducing. But look away and you’ll be left behind. Are you going to be a mere spectator or will you drive innovation in your company?

Well, Hello There! The Third Internet Wave is Here

The development of the Internet can be broken down into three waves.

1. The first wave, in the 1980s and 90s, was about building the Internet’s fixed line infrastructure and foundational technologies and getting people connected. By the new millennium, about a billion users were connected to the fixed Internet via primarily their PCs.[1]
2. In the 2000s, we had the second wave, which is characterized by entrepreneurial companies building services on those first wave platforms, leading to the emergence of second wave companies like Google and Facebook, powering the social media revolution and the growing app economy. During the second wave, there was also a transition to mobile software like Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS which allowed large numbers of devices to easily communicate with each other; ultimately, 20 billion people to the Internet via their mobile devices.[2]
3. Right now, the Internet of Things (IoT), which connects the Internet to everyday things and devices, is emerging as the third wave in the development of Internet.

As Steve Case, the co-founder and former CEO and Chairman of AOL, explains: where the first wave was about building the Internet and the second wave was about building on the Internet, the third wave is about integrating the Internet throughout.[3]

Funny name, serious opportunity: So what exactly is the Internet of Things?

Good question! Even though the term “Internet of Things” has been thrown around for over 15 years, the term is still not particularly well-defined or well-understood. Definitions and interpretations still vary widely and the IoT is shrouded in complexities and disagreements abound about what exactly should be classified under the umbrella of the “Internet of Things”. Since we are just sticking to the basics here, an easy definition is connecting a device with an on/off switch to the Internet. The Online Oxford Dictionary also gives a nice, concise definition: “The interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.”[4] Popular examples of “things” that are part of the IoT umbrella are the Apple Watch, wearable fitness tracker Fitbit and the Nest thermostat which allows users to control their home’s temperature from their Internet-connected mobile devices.

25 Billion Reasons You Need to Pay Attention

The analysts at Gartner, Inc. forecasts that 4.9 billion connected things will be in use in 2015, up 30 percent from 2014, and will reach 25 billion by 2020.[5] Moreover, Gartner projects that the total economic value-add (the combined benefits business will obtain from the sale and use of IoT technology) will be $1.9 trillion dollars in 2020, benefiting a wide range of industries, such as , healthcare, retail and transportation. [6]

The first two waves of the Internet catalyzed significant changes to the economy; the IoT third wave will do the same, establishing new winners and leaving the lagging losers behind based on a company’s ability to a connected world.

Yet these big numbers are just projections and skeptics are a plenty, after all, in the collective scheme of things, we are still in the embryonic stages of adoption of the IoT. Why a healthy level of skepticism can be important and a built-in impulsivity control in the innovation process, fear will results only in squashing innovation. As  discussed in Robert’s Rules of Innovation, a book on how to be innovative that provides readers with a 10-step corporate survival guide program of the ten imperatives, “No Risk… No Innovation” is arguably one of the most important. As discussed in the book, without risk there can be no innovation. The willingness to take risk—given the cost of failure—can wither. Fear of failure can kill innovation.

We are at the precipice of a monumental change and entering a new era of connectivity. IoT will be likely be a transformational trend well into the next decade. You companies’ ability to adapt, innovate and thrive in this ambitious new time will determine who tomorrow’s winners and laggards will be. Innovate or die.

For more detailed guidelines and tips of the trade on how to promote innovation in your company, refer to Robert’s Rules of Innovation. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for the forthcoming Robert’s Rules of Innovation II: The Art of Implementation (available December 8, 2015). You can also check out innovation workshops and online webinars through the Innovation as a System™ Seminar Series.

[2] https://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/iot-video.html

[3] https://mashable.com/2014/03/12/steve-case-world-wide-web-25/#Hrh6aAhqziq9

[4] https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/Internet-of-things

[5] https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2905717

[6] https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2602817

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

Move over rose wielding bachelors and cha-chaing celebutantes, reality TV has crowned a new ratings darling: ABC’s “Shark Tank”. The show’s premise is simple: it’s essentially a business pitch competition where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas on live TV to a panel of investors known as the “sharks”. Rapid-fire deals are negotiated on the spot with sharks using their own money to give entrepreneurs the funding they need to turn their dreams into million dollar realities. Over 300 deals have been accepted over the show’s past six seasons, and the sharks have collectively offered more than $60 million to bankroll an array of entrepreneurs and their business ventures. To date, the most successful “Shark Tank” business is the Scrub Daddy sponge that has raked in more than $18 million since its TV debut (shark Lori Greiner made a deal with the creator for $200,000 in exchange for 20 percent of the business).

Despite its Friday 9 p.m. time slot (a.k.a. “The Friday Night Deathslot”), the show has taken off—it’s the most watched show on Friday nights in the coveted 18-49 demographic with Nielsen ratings consistently rising each season. Now with 108 episodes under its belt, “Shark Tank” has become a cultural phenomenon in its own right, inspiring a whole new crop of entrepreneurial reality shows (Food Network’s “Food Fortunes”, CNBC’s “The Profit”, and ABC Family’s “Startup U”, just to name a few). So why have audiences flocked to the show like sharks to blood? I believe these are two of the main reasons this entrepreneurial reality show has resonated with viewers:

Armchair Entrepreneurship: The Thrill of Vicarious Success

Many people believe that entrepreneurs are born not made, and that because they weren’t born with the innovation “gene” that their entrepreneurial dreams are just that—dreams. However, while such people may not be able to do it for themselves, they still derive pleasure from watching others succeed. “Shark Tank” lets viewers vicariously experience the thrill of innovation and ultimately entrepreneurial success without ever having to get up off the couch, spend a single dollar, or sacrifice a minute of sleep. “Shark Tank” takes armchair, wannabe entrepreneurs on a low-stakes (or more accurately, no-stakes) thrill ride. For 60 minutes each Friday night, it’s (almost) all the fun of the real thing, but with none of the risk.

Is your fear of taking risks and failure holding you back? What’s keeping you on the couch when others are taking action on their ideas and fulfilling their dreams? After all, of the ten imperatives to Roberts Rules of Innovation, “No Risk… No Innovation” is arguably one of the most important. As discussed in the book, without risk there can be no innovation. In a tough economic environment, the willingness to take risk—given the cost of failure—can wither. Fear of failure can kill innovation.

Those who can’t do, watch (on TV). Which type of person are you?

Red, White, and Blue Revenues? The American Dream 2.0

Nothing stirs up patriotism quite like the idea of the American Dream. In the past ten years, there’s been a significant paradigm shift in the business world. The American Dream no longer has such a clear-cut trajectory. The risks are bigger but so are the rewards. It’s no longer about patiently climbing the corporate ladder to achieve success; this is a new era where business idols can be college drop outs who build billion dollar business while living in their parents’ basement and wearing pajama pants to business meetings—the Mark Zuckerberg effect, if you will. “Shark Tank” gives audiences the opportunity to route for the underdog, the rags-to-riches fantasy, and the American Dream 2.0.

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

No matter what industry you’re a part of, chances are you’ve had to deal with seemingly unreasonable demands and double standards from your direct supervisors, bosses, and clients. Perhaps, you’ve been contacted after-hours to make adjustments to your company’s impending press release the next day. Or your work environment has grown increasingly tense because your boss is nerve-wracked about a business venture, and has a propensity to vent his/her frustrations to their employees by way of veiled threats and unnecessary vitriol. Or you and your coworkers are facing possible termination because of budget cuts while the CEO is busy purchasing another company. A discouraged or irritated boss can markedly affect the work environment, indirectly affecting work performance and overall morale.

In his work Politics, Aristotle writes, “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” Though it’s easy to commiserate with the begrudged employee in these circumstances, positions of leadership can exact an emotional and psychological toll, especially in periods of duress. Leaders are relied on to guide the company through calm and rough seas, embody its mission statement, and to oversee the completion of major projects. The responsibilities increase exponentially the higher you are on the food chain, and for those who’ve never held a subordinate position may not understand the ramifications of his/her general mood and behavior to their employees. Luckily, there are proven ways of assisting those in managerial and administrative roles to acclimate to the demands of their respective positions while maintaining and fostering a positive workspace.

Though training is often viewed from the lens of employees, it should actually begin from the top down in the business hierarchy, from administers to new hires. The reason behind leadership training and coaching lies with the fact that company trailblazers and visionaries often find themselves unable to adequately communicate their directives succinctly. The problem increases exponentially in companies with large infrastructures, as a directive that is passed down a chain of command through multiple departments may obfuscate the original instruction. Uniformity and transparency are key components to any organizational structure, and leadership training and coaching programs typically emphasize both.

Many of these training programs also underscore the concept of leading by example. While this may seem like an obvious notion, it’s also one of those notions that are easier said than done. Leading by example necessitates a healthy compartmentalization of personal and business interrelations as well as a keen awareness of how one’s behavior and general mood can set the tone of working conditions. A temperamental CEO who has vacillating moods contingent on the weekly productivity of a given venture will likely cause his/her employees to similarly react, breeding discontent one week and general satisfaction the next. It can feel significantly difficult to maintain a consistent upbeat attitude, especially if you’re incredibly invested in your work. The fact that bosses are hold positions of extreme scrutiny doesn’t help the situation either.

One of the first steps to leading by example is prioritizing the emotional welfare of your company before yourself. If a business is undergoing a particularly difficult transition, the way that a boss processes and deals with the strain has manifold influences on how everyone else learns to manage pressure. A boss who maintains composure during periods of duress establishes a precedent for everyone he/she comes in contact with. This can lead to consistent productivity in spite of taxing circumstances, foster a deeper sense of community and camaraderie, and garner further respect for executives. The following words on leadership are credited to Dwight D. Eisenhower:

“Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity. When you delegate something to a subordinate, for example, it is absolutely your responsibility, and he must understand this. You as a leader must take complete responsibility for what the subordinate does. I once said, as a sort of wisecrack, that leadership consist of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.”

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

There are a lot of moving gears involved with value creation. Talent, originality, intelligence, and circumstance all play a part in the sustainable process of innovation. However, these qualities can appear abstract and elusive. Is it possible to gauge a prospective employee’s resume or curriculum vitae for any of these respective characteristics? Are there metrics in place to determine them within a company’s infrastructure? Aside from an increased return on investment (ROI) or shareholder value, how else can a company determine whether or not their innovative process is short or long-term?

One of the steps towards assessing value creation is observation and measurement. There is a plethora of different analytic and metric systems available to companies for this express purpose. Now companies can readily monitor the attendant risk factors involved with value creation, including but not limited to start-up costs, sales projections, the speed to market, and consumer response. Not only can companies make minute adjustments to a product release or service update to ensure positive value creation, these metrics can also aid in forecasting long-term success.

Here are some additional questions that should also be considered:
Are there any issues from user reports that have not been addressed?

• How substantial is the difference between the startup cost and projected revenue associated with a given project?
• In the event of unforeseen delays, what are the associated monetary risks?
• How does this further the brand of a company?

While these questions may seem obvious, they are often overlooked. Companies often hesitate to try new approaches, especially if the results are uncertain. But, in order for value creation to succeed, a fine balance of cost, profit, and return needs to be maintained. Risk is an unavoidable factor however. Despite how specific the aforementioned metrics can be in forecasting the possible success and failure of any new endeavor, sometimes going for the goal and taking the uncertainties head-on is the only course of action available. Failure is an integral part of the business process, and though this should ideally be minimized, it’s also a rite of passage.

Several notable products, works of art, and services that are now considered iconic were originally rejected or failed in their respective industries before being recognized. Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, a novel now considered a literary masterpiece and continues to be taught in English courses across the country, was originally rejected by publishers for being too drawn out and traditional. Even after its release, the novel didn’t sell well to mainstream audiences. The same thing happened to Vladimir Nabokov’s classic Lolita. Henry Ford, who was responsible for Ford vehicles and the model-assembly line, originally failed in business and went bankrupt before making his mark in history. Harland David Sanders, more popularly known as Colonel Sanders, had difficulty selling his chicken at first. These are just a few examples of how innovation wasn’t duly appreciated in its time, and looking at these respective biographies, success seems only a matter of time.

In addition to the aforementioned metrics that can be used to determine the potential risk and success of any given venture, innovation teams can also assist in mitigating the pitfalls. Some companies invest millions of dollars in forming innovation teams to handle intellectual property management and innovation governance, the latter of which includes uniform leadership and supervision.

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

With our ever increasing aptitude for technology, CEO’s and thought leaders are on the hunt for the next big idea; that one product or service that will revolutionize an industry.

Recently, Fast Company released “The 100 Most Creative People in Business,” a list recognizing the innovative accomplishments of notable individuals; from people like Charles Arntzen – for pioneering the engineering of tobacco to fight Ebola, and Ertharin Cousin –  who introduced communication technology to end hunger in impoverished communities, to Sophie Lebrecht – whose company developed an algorithm that can determine what image will go viral,  and Kevin Wells – for implementing new features to the social media platform Twitter.

Given the rate of innovation today, some of these accomplishments can seem both simultaneously awe-inspiring and ordinary. Products and services are quickly becoming more efficient and convenient to the consumer market with each passing year, and it seems like there’s something new being released every other week. Why is it then, that so many companies struggle to find just a single innovative idea?

Origin stories for revolutionary ideas, products, and services are typically portrayed as the result of hard work and passion from a single individual, such as the reclusive genius or the overlooked underdog with a dream. It’s a familiar story rife with dramatic tension, and this type of biography, fictional or otherwise, has become widely disseminated in Western culture.

While these stories can often be very inspirational, rarely are these kinds of success stories the result of a group effort, leaving many to believe that collaboration isn’t a part of the innovative process.

However, one of the crucial steps towards true innovation is ideation, a collaborative process that requires the joint participation of a company’s New Product Development (NPD) and Leadership Team Development (LTD) departments. Visionaries are crucial to any company, but so is the collective effort.

In an interview with one of the listed creative pioneers, Sibyl Goldman remarks on one of the surprising things about her job:

“I think it might surprise people to know that our work space is so open that I often share a desk space with people on my team, much to their dismay. We kind of pile together in one space and there is truly no physical structure that defines where we are, where we go, how we work. We’re so fluid and flexible, which can take some adjusting, but once you adjust to it, can be so great. I get a lot of my creative inspiration from the people I work with, so working close together makes sense.”

Though it’s not necessary to operate in such close proximity to one another, this quote provides insight into the integral nature of teamwork regarding innovation. This is further underscored by the risk-taking nature of the ideation process, which requires both the New Product Development and Leadership Team Development groups to work in sync with each other. A diversity of skill sets and experiences also contributes towards the success of a given company’s brand, product line, and/or service as remarked by Thomas Dimson of Instagram:

“I think it would surprise people the level of diversity that we have at Instagram of people. My team has probably eight or nine PhDs on it. We have engineers that have absolutely no college experience, we have people that work in creative writing, we have all these different jobs. And I think that it’s actually kind of interesting to see all the different things that go in to making it such a successful company. It’s not just the great engineering or it’s not just great management or whatever. It’s really like there’s just such a level of diversity in terms of experiences that I find that’s pretty surprising to me.”

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

It’s easy to view leadership with rose-colored glasses, to envision the accolades and respect that comes with authority. However, from the beginning of modern business, the pressures associated with positions of power have been underscored over and over again, giving birth to idioms and adages like “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” The story of the Sword of Damocles perfectly illustrates the dichotomy of power, how it is viewed and what it actually entails. In the story, Damocles mentions to the king how wonderful it must be to hold such a lofty office. To teach Damocles the true nature of leadership, the king allows him to take his place at the throne. As Damocles sits on the throne, he notices a sword hanging above his head, held by a single horse’s hair, revealing the true double-edged nature of leadership, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The risk of failure accompanies the pursuit of success in any venture, and it’s up to the champion of the business to take ownership and to drive innovation.

But, what does it mean to truly take ownership?

Get Out of that Comfort Zone

It’s easy to generate ideas if the topic is in your wheelhouse, and it’s just as easy to work on solutions to a problem you’ve encountered before. One of the crucial roles of any champion, visionary, or chief innovation officer is motivating others to push outside of their comfort zones, to take on tasks or adopt different methods that may be unfamiliar or even daunting. The importance of this can’t be reemphasized enough, as it provides opportunities to tackle issues from unconventional vantage points that may produce solutions; a necessary ingredient in innovation. The task of incentivizing others is no easy task, and certain considerations need to be taken in order to fulfill the aforementioned task you must see the potential application of a team member’s skill set and experience to recognizing the blind spots associated with respective comfort zones. No easy feat, but growth can’t come from maintaining the static status quo.

The Dreaded R Word

Risk-taking is one of those things that sounds easier than it is to practice. The plethora of success stories that have embedded itself into the mythos of big-name companies have certainly contributed to this concept: the genius who pursues an idea that has never been undertaken before and is able to reap the considerable benefits after, the startup company that began in a friend’s basement and within three years, has taken over most of the market share in its industry, or the project that took 100 failures to find success, making the entire process worth it. And while businesses will always strive for success, dreaming of becoming the next Apple, the prospect of failing at a new venture can often give pause, if not discourage risk-taking entirely. That’s why it’s up to the champion to take ownership by calculating the associated risks with the projected benefits, and decisively directing his or her team to move forward with a course of action. There are very real consequences to risk-taking, and the champion needs to tote the fine line between unflagging determination and clear pragmatism. It is also crucial for the champion to convey the risk profile of a venture to the team with complete transparency while maintaining the bigger picture.

Gleaning from Failure

At one point or another, everyone has heard some variation of the following saying: “The true measure of one’s character is measured in failures.” Though failure is never the optimal result of any business venture, it’s important for companies to have a management process that is involved with risk-taking, but without negating the team’s contributions and efforts. Beyond the questions of how and why, questions of what can be learned from the failed venture can open up new possibilities and opportunities.

Remember: Failure is a learning experience.

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

The degree in which a company prioritizes sustainable innovation can often become the difference between a successful business and a struggling business.

True innovation does more than just meet the immediate exigency of consumers and clients; it anticipates those demands and needs, providing products and/or services that radically changes the landscape of the marketplace. However, every innovation effort requires a business to observe and measure every aspect of the new product development (NPD) process to ensure profitable growth. In order to promote innovation in your organization, consider the following guidelines:

To Improve or To Revolutionize

There are different types of innovation and it’s important to identify the one that best suits your business’s needs, whether it’s incremental changes to the product line or a pioneering breakthrough that opens a new path for value delivery. If your organization has recently released a product, what are some improvements that can be implemented? If your company is considering taking on new services to meet the unique demands of its consumer base, what are some of the determining metrics in place?

There are also certain factors that must be considered with both: implementing incremental changes on a select product/service without diversifying your company’s portfolio can potentially lead to stagnancy; and managing breakthroughs can prove immensely difficult, like navigating through unknown territory without a map. The benefits are different as well:

Improving a product/service can ensure its relevancy in the market place and a breakthrough holds the potential for significant growth and brand visibility.

They Talk, You Listen; You Ask, They Answer

While most will certainly agree that customer feedback is essential to their company practice, the prevalence of social media has redefined the expectations of both parties. Technical lines that coincide with operating business hours have now given way to 24-hour online messaging systems.

Official social media platforms have become public forums for gauging consumer interest as well as a promotional outlet. Whether it’s a tweet about an upcoming firmware patch or an announcement of a new product via Facebook, innovation necessitates open dialogue; consumers now demand convenient and immediate access to pose their queries, and companies are beholden to oblige at the risk of losing customer loyalty.

Innovation Trailblazers

Innovation requires vision, and is often the task of a business’s visionary. There are different terms for this specific role, the individual that fosters talent, poses the hard questions, and recognizes and appreciates the unique skill sets and perspectives of every member of the team. Most importantly, in order for the visionary to realize innovation, the person-in-charge must have a clear management process in place that facilitates creativity and maintains an encompassing view of its applications.

Metrics into Profits

Most companies would categorize return-on-investments (ROI) as a top priority, and nothing is more important than metrics to ensure ROI. With the versatility and accuracy of performance metrics, a business can now determine the viability of every nuanced choice in its progress from ideation to realization. Regular analysis also deters the chances of unforeseeable vagaries such as an overlooked issue that was never clarified, a predetermination of a successful functionality contradicted by negative reception, or failing to file patents in a timely fashion.

Reaping the Rewards

Nothing says like a job well done than proud employees. It’s important to acknowledge the team’s time and effort spent. This applies to everyone, from stockholders to the desk clerk. Not only does this incentivize the business to continually strive for innovation, it establishes an important foundation of trust that enriches a given business’s culture and sense of community.

For more in-depth guidelines on how to promote innovation in your business, refer to Robert’s Rules of Innovation. Be sure to keep an eye out for the forthcoming Robert’s Rules of Innovation II, “The Art of Implementation.”

image credit: dudesustainable.com

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

While there is no hard evidence to attribute the above quote to Henry Ford, there is no argument that he was a visionary of his time. He created something that consumers didn’t realize they needed, by making the automobile affordable. He disrupted the current model, and for a time monopolized market share.

No matter the origin of the above statement, business leaders of today are in a race against the clock to innovate faster than their competitors. Innovate or die, the adage goes. As I have mentioned before, there are some that suggest disruptive innovation is a competitive strategy for an “age seized by terror”. My response remains the same. Disruptive innovation is an argument against complacency, made more relevant by a landscape transformed by technology.

In late January, Big Think and Singularity University surveyed 1,283 US based executives about practices related to disruptive innovation. Using questions based on recent research in the field, respondents were asked to identify best practices for disruptive innovation, name a range of companies and leaders excelling these practices, and acknowledge which leadership traits & technologies have the most potential to disrupt businesses in the next five years.

The study is incredibly insightful and reflective, and is a must read for executives.

Nearly every attempt at success is met with failures along the way, and properly managing those failures can actually benefit the Innovation process. Failure, therefore, must be tolerated.  Without that freedom to fail, your team’s collective courage to push the status quo will quickly evaporate and freeze your innovation efforts. So: “Fail fast and fail cheap.” Don’t get me wrong; striving for perfection, maintaining the highest of standards, and planning for the future are all very important. At the same time, don’t let the fear of failure immobilize your business either. As Andrew Stanton, Director of Finding Nemo puts it, “We’re gonna screw up, let’s just admit that. Let’s not be afraid of that.”

Another section of the study supports that organizations are executing important disruptive innovation practices, but need to embrace more data and external resources.

The term “Big Data” is nothing new – however, our ability to collect and use this data is growing at an exponential rate. Brands that seek to make deep connnections with their consumers, aim to make these connections personal, and personalization requires rich insights into individual needs, preferences and motivations. As Bob Zurek SVP of Products for Epsilon has pointed out, universities and colleges are starting to develop programs around big data, signifying a new crop of big data pioneers about to enter the workforce to help organizations harness the power of this information. “Big Data” isn’t limited to impacting customer relationships either. It can impact product development, operations, supply, and many other facets of your business.

“Among more established companies, respondents favored leaders who engaged in media and took big bets. Eight of the 10 most cited CEOs creating disruptive innovation had some involvement in media businesses even if their core business model lay elsewhere.”

Leaders must involve their entire organization in the vision of their company, and promote an honest and open climate to achieve a meaningful shared vision of the future. While disruption in innovation is needed, it is impossible to achieve without the right leadership. The leader of your innovation team has to inspire, lead, and drive the process.

How are you preparing for innovation and business model disruption?

To get results in Innovation, a structured, repeatable process is essential from start to finish. Look to all the imperatives of Robert’s Rules of Innovation – but be sure you know how to implement them. Keep an eye out for Robert’s Rules of Innovation, volume II, coming soon!

The Exponential Leadership Survey 2015 was executed by Big Think and Singularity University.

Learn more Here.

image credit: Wikipedia

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GUEST POST by Robert F. Brands

Though competition is an unavoidable aspect of business, its effects can potentially foster or deter innovation depending on a leader’s management style. Celebrating success and discouraging failure is a familiar binary for most, but what would happen if a business decides to reverse that paradigm? What if we celebrated failure, and discouraged dwelling on our successes? This may seem completely counterintuitive and many would balk at such a consideration, but consider this: how often has a given company released a successful product only to find itself shuffled into irrelevancy a few years down the road? For example, take the Blackberry; a negligible, almost-forgotten product that was once considered the preeminent leader of smartphones. Even household brands can become obsolete, and more often than not, the leading contributor to a business’s inevitable decline is the self-satisfaction that follows that initial success.

Without sustainable process-driven innovation to manage and promote ideation, a promising future can quickly transform into stagnancy. To quote Andrew Grove, the former president and CEO of Intel Corporation, “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure.”

Recently, the rate of innovation in America has become somewhat of a polarizing issue. As reported in The Economist, some analysts and economists believe that the rate of technological growth in the country has been decreasing for several decades. Perhaps the various experts are right, that a stagnancy has rapidly taken hold of our industries; perhaps, a byproduct of resting on one’s laurels:

“Some suspect that the rich world’s economic doldrums may be rooted in a long-term technological stasis … The various motors of 20th-century growth – some technological, some not – had played themselves out, and new technologies were not going to have the same invigorating effect on the economies of the future. For all its flat-screen dazzle and high-bandwidth pizzazz, it seemed the world had run out of ideas.”

However, in a conversation with The Atlantic, the co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates boldly asserted that innovation in America has not decreased, “‘I think the idea that innovation is slowing down is one of the stupidest things anybody ever said,’ he said. ‘Innovation is moving at a scarily fast pace.’” His protestation is easily supported by the very visible technological advances of the past decade, from fuel-efficient hybrids and touchscreen smartphones to CG-animation and 3D-printers. It’s also difficult to imagine America and the rest of the world at some technological standstill when new technological advances and feats seem to constantly grace our news feeds: Amazon’s drone delivery service, the Rosetta comet landing, and bionic limb replacements.

So, is the supposed dearth of innovation a true concern? Is competition actually driving businesses to produce iterations of similar products without furthering the advancement of their given industries? Or is it simply a matter of perspective? Regardless of where one may fall on this issue, the responsibility rests solely on every individual business in America. Something as seemingly minor as time constraints or a regularly updated inventory can determine the success or failure of any given idea. Through a streamlined process of idea management, promising concepts can be harnessed into true innovation, positioning your company above its competitors. It can spell the difference between a one-hit wonder idea and a generative think tank.

For more information on the idea management process and its applications to your business, be sure to review Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.