Presented by Peter Skarzynski, CEO, Strategos and author, Innovation to the Core – A Blueprint for Transforming the Way Your Company Innovates
Peter provides his thoughts on building an innovation capability within the organization.
Why bother with innovation?
Gary Hamel: “Innovation is the only way to stay ahead of the curve.”
There is a rhetoric gap between innovation being talked about as being at the top of the agenda, and what’s really happening.
- Proctor & Gamble are talking about innovating the way they innovate. This stance is all about culture change, and in P&G’s case, it’s about becoming less insular and more open in the way they operate.
- GE declared they are thinking in a new way how to lead the business.
Is it that P&G and GE finally woke up, or is there something else at work here?
It’s always difficult for organizations to change.We know this, and so there is a movement to make innovation more natural and require less effort.
How to Succeed:
- Bring innovation to the front line; listen to those closest to the problem.
- Humility: there is always someone smarter than you in the organization.
- Focus on the business model.
- Teach. Learn. Apply. (rinse and repeat)
- Challenge orthodoxy – break glass, but heal it too
- Harness disruption (inevitable surprises) – things that you can see coming, but inevitably you’re surprised when they happen, such as the popularity of Second Life.
- Address unarticulated needs of customers – experience a day in the life of a customer
- Please crash! (safely)
- Approach innovation systemically – think about enablers and impediments to innovation
Dare to be Radical: (radical does not mean risky or far-out) -does it have the power to change customer expectations?
See Whirlpool as an example of an organization who’ve innovated, and would have a revolt on their hands if they were to go back to the old way of doing things.
Copies of this presentation can be obtained by emailing Peter.