Comments on: Shining a powerful innovation light into the Corporate Boardrooms https://thinking4innovators.com/shining-a-powerful-innovation-light-into-the-corporate-boardrooms/ Bringing my thinking and solutions to your business problems Thu, 23 Jun 2016 08:38:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Future Innovation demands a different approach | Paul4innovating's Innovation Views https://thinking4innovators.com/shining-a-powerful-innovation-light-into-the-corporate-boardrooms/#comment-1639 Thu, 23 Jun 2016 08:38:33 +0000 http://paul4innovating.com/?p=12280#comment-1639 […] initially wrote in “Shining a powerful innovation light into the Corporate board rooms” about the application and value of this frame differently. The difference is that mine is an […]

]]> By: Bill Van Eron https://thinking4innovators.com/shining-a-powerful-innovation-light-into-the-corporate-boardrooms/#comment-1638 Tue, 26 Apr 2016 04:04:25 +0000 http://paul4innovating.com/?p=12280#comment-1638 Hi Paul, I really enjoyed your post and plan to read more of your work. Like you, I did a deep dive during a two year sabbatical so as to better understand all the factors driving change and the impacts on business. I never intended it to be two years but so much was changing I stayed enthralled as I read 8 books and about 20 reports by Gartner, Deloitte, Aberdeen and others. My background in innovation comes from a career in design and marketing that I extended across PR and sales, R&D and service and very rare experience within HP and Agilent as a lone force to challenge the status quo while earning trust and delivering ROI from 4X to 15X expectations. When I pushed HP to increase the value of its brand, I was told the brand strategy was geared to protect itself from poor implementation, rather than to enable brand experts like myself to help it fly. Yeah $100M minimally in one year to $7B also in one year was what I returned with no exceptions yet the engineering culture took it for granted. Most technology companies suffer the same gaps today.. Every time I went to a boss who was an engineer, they said “it’s your job on the line, if you believe in it, do it” . I suspect that is what you see – even worse – in the boardrooms as most find what got them here has no bearing on what it takes to move forward. Some take that personally and resist change as a threat.

I believe tighter correlations can be made between innovation and profitable growth yet I also know why many innovation efforts fail. Startups show between a 20-30% success rate and intrapreneurial efforts in large companies also seem to have a high fail rate.

I have been looking to help others who are innovation advisors as the problem is bigger than just innovation. You already figured out it is leadership and even more conservative boardrooms. This last December Gallup announced that 77% of US workers (87% internationally) are emotionally detached from work and they do not feel their ideas are listened to. Ironically, three months later Gartner announced that CEO’s are ranking inclusion as their top need. Employees want to be heard and part of the planning process. Organizations with disgruntled employees are the walking dead as no way will customers ever be satisfied.

I see marketing as being in the best position – not as it has been practiced but my view of it is as a catalyst to organization alignment, buy in, customer centricity and innovation. People powered communities will only grow in power and influence. With total transparency, companies any margin less than genuine will fail faster.

This is a time of unprecedented opportunity to create inclusion, a purpose that bonds people internally and externally, and integrated thinking (systems thinking and ecosystems thinking) are critical as there is no more pinpointing the problem. There is a system that has to be understood, respected and regard earned. This is a time where humility is a strength as leaders who have it are approachable. This is a human-centric revolution and those that resist and hold on to false notions are the riskiest of all.

I pitch this as a time when stability will follow embracing the value economy sooner.
There are many types of innovation so I am constructing a perpetual innovation engine so more companies see opportunities that about 99% miss or are too slow to act on.

Look forward to reading more of your posts. Love to chat someday. I also see a day where markets can proactively innovate where companies fail to. Best, Bill Van Eron.

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