The 6 Most Common Innovation Mistakes Companies Make
Leaders hoping to boost their ability to drive growth through innovation need to simultaneously direct it strategically, pursue it rigorously, resource it intensively, monitor it methodically, and nurture it carefully. This is clearly not easy stuff. Many of the most common missteps we see companies make would fit nicely in Steve Kerr’s management classic, “The folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B.” Here are … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Scott Anthony | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Innovation
Assessment: Should We Pursue This New Project?
Like aviators, experienced innovators use checklists. It’s how they make sure they haven’t left out any critical steps when assessing new ideas. This approach also helps company strategists and innovation leaders evaluate investments and advise new-growth teams in a disciplined way. We’ve created this brief interactive checklist to help you vet the possibilities in your innovation pipeline. Think of a project proposal you’re considering, and … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: David Duncan, Pontus M.A. Siren, Scott Anthony | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Innovation
Eight Essential Questions for Every Corporate Innovator
What questions should corporate innovators use to increase their odds of success? There are some classics out there, such as Peter Drucker’s (“If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?”), Ted Levitt’s timeless contribution (“What business are we really in?”), and the question Andy Grove asked to transform Intel (“If the board brought in a new CEO, what … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Scott Anthony | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Innovation
The Innovator’s Straitjacket
Even the sanest of companies can unintentionally put themselves in a straitjacket that makes it hard for them to create high-potential new growth opportunities. Here’s how leaders unintentionally limit their innovation efforts.
Content: Article | Author: Scott Anthony | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior
The Five Cs of Opportunity Identification
Simply asking “what job is the customer trying to get done?” can be a powerful way to enable innovation, because it forces you to go beyond superficial demographic markers that correlate with purchase and use to zero in on frustrations and desires that motivate purchase and use.
Seductive simplicity hides a rich, robust set of opportunity identification tools. Through our experience utilizing the “jobs-to-be-done” concept in … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Scott Anthony | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Innovation, Marketing / Sales
Create Early Warning Systems to Detect Competitive Threats
Corporations should have early warning systems to detect emerging competitive threats that have long-term potential to affect their business. Strategists can look back at past transformations to inform their own analyses and they need to understand how tomorrow’s industry could be structured. The work of two of the most important scholars in the field, Clayton Christensen and Richard N. Foster, suggests considering five questions.
Content: Article | Author: Scott Anthony | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Strategy