My 2021 writing year in review
Photo by Matt Zhang on Unsplash
Having endured with fellow Melburnians the longest lockdown in the world, I spent a lot of time at home in 2021 and coped by investing myself even more deeply into work, helping leaders to develop more resilient and sustainable organisations.
From the trenches of strategy and innovation, I brought back the material for a few more blogposts and articles that all aim to share learnings that can be useful to others with similar objectives. In 2021 I published:
- 14 posts for the Strategyzer blog or my personal blog,
- An article for Raiffeisen INSIDE, Raiffeisen Bank International magazine, on how “culture enables innovation”,
- A StratChat webinar on “Developing an Innovation Ecosystem from Scratch with Sergey Zverev from MSD”.
My 2021 writing year in review
BLOGGING (in chronological order)
Books that most influenced my work in 2020
In this blogpost I reflect on the most useful books on innovation and business transformation I read in 2020. The four books I referred the most to fellow practitioners, clients and friends.
You can’t pick the winners at the start, in transformative innovation… and pro basketball!
The hindsight bias leads to overconfidence regarding our ability to predict the outcomes of future events. In the field of innovation, this often causes leaders to invest in the wrong ideas.
In this post I show how leaders who want transformative innovation outcomes should start by acknowledging the hindsight bias, and accept that “they can’t pick the winners at the start”.
Align your Innovation Ecosystem Stakeholders with Clear Explore Guidance
Letting the wrong projects into the Explore portfolio can be a very costly mistake for corporate innovation leaders.
In this article I show how leaders can align the various stakeholders of their innovation ecosystem and bring clarity on their priorities and the boundaries of their exploration with explicit Explore Guidance.
The 3 Elements of an Innovation Ecosystem
Developing an innovation capability within a large organization is a daunting prospect. It’s become clear in the last few years that it requires a more systemic approach.
In this post I explain the three core elements required to build an innovation ecosystem: explore portfolio + innovation programs + exploration culture.
An Example from the Pharma Industry on How To Build a Thriving Innovation Ecosystem
It takes time and investment to create a sustainable innovation ecosystem, and it requires many decisions along the way.
In this post I show how a Pharma company I’m working with is balancing their short-term and long-term objectives as they navigate their way to building a thriving innovation ecosystem.
Interview on Innovation Ecosystems
In this interview I answer all the questions from my fellow Strategyzer Advisor Christian Doll on innovation ecosystems, a critical topic to build long-term resilience in large organisations.
Two Questions to Gauge the Importance of Corporate Innovation in any Organisation
How to quickly assess the state of corporate innovation in any organisation?
In this blogpost I explain how to use two simple questions to leaders as a good predictor of how important innovation is considered in any organisation.
Use those questions before you can do a more detailed assessment.
Leadership support for innovation needs more than good intentions (MOST POPULAR IN 2021)
Despite their best intentions, attempts by senior leaders in large organisations to set up a thriving innovation capability can end up in bitter disappointment.
In this blogpost I outline the five acts of a CORPORATE INNOVATION drama I’ve seen unfold too many times, and what leaders can put in place to create a virtuous circle towards better outcomes from innovation.
Experimentation is your path to growth!
Large organisations won’t be able to tackle 21st century business challenges without a strong experimentation capability.
In this blogpost I explain why experimentation is so critical to manage the high uncertainty of new business ideas, what the iterative innovation process looks like, and how experimentation unlocks value creation in terms of new products, services and business models.
The road from Tackers to Thinkers50
I learnt recently that Alex, Yves, Alan and myself have been shortlisted for the 2021 Strategy Award for our work on The Invincible Company.
I wish I could say that I had never hoped for such recognition… but that would not be entirely true!
In this blogpost I want to tell the story of my 5-year journey from Tackers 2016 to Thinkers50 and express gratitude to the exceptional people in my life who helped me along the way.
What drives leaders to invest in transformative innovation?
If you plan to introduce or increase the volume on transformative innovation in your organisation, expect pushback to say the least. Still, some leaders manage to overcome all obstacles.
In this article I want to highlight three powerful drivers behind the success of leaders who managed to create a capability for transformative innovation within their organisation.
So what drives leaders to invest in transformative innovation?
Fear of disruption
Hunger for growth
Awareness of an unforeseeable future
How to choose the best possible design for your innovation organisation today?
I have seen interest for organisational design in the context of innovation grow significantly in the last few months. Leaders have come to me with questions such as: Should corporate innovation be centralised or decentralised? How much separation is required from the core business? Should corporate innovation be in a separate legal entity?
In this blogpost I want to explain my approach to finding the best possible organisational design for innovation in a company, starting with the questions I typically ask, and how I then lay out the options to facilitate org design decisions.
The first 18 months of leading the creation of an Innovation Ecosystem
What would you do if you were asked to lead the launch of the new innovation arm within a large organisation? Nick Himowicz and I interviewed Sergey Zverev who faced this exact challenge in Feb 2020.
In this blogpost we summarise Sergey's 6 priorities in his first 18 months of leading the development of an innovation ecosystem within MSD emerging markets.
Are your leaders also ready to lead innovation?
In my experience, almost all organisations assume that their existing leaders are ready to lead innovation. But that assumption is often wrong.
In this blogpost I explain how to help leaders be better prepared to lead innovation. It starts by creating time and space for leaders to reflect on innovation, and via a dialogue create the opportunity to:
raise their awareness on the radical difference between exploration and exploitation,
make explicit their role in supporting and challenging innovation teams,
make explicit their role in designing and nurturing an innovation ecosystem.
PUBLICATION
The wheel, the printing press or vaccines – innovation has always been important for mankind. In today’s world, innovation is essential for companies and banks, to move forward and stay relevant. But what distinguishes innovative companies from their competitors? How can a company teach its employees to be innovative? And what are the biggest obstacles?
To find answers, we talked to Frederic Etiemble, Executive Adviser at Strategyzer – a global leader in enterprise growth and innovation services – and Nicole Stroj, Head of Organizational Innovation at RBI.
WEBINAR
It’s February 2020 and Sergey Zverev is asked to lead the launch of the Emerging Markets Innovation Access Studio (EMIAS), MSD’s new innovation arm. Designing an innovation ecosystem from scratch is a daunting task in normal circumstances already. Even more with COVID 19 coming into full swing and everyone working from home.
In the November StratChat webinar facilitated by Fred Etiemble and Nick Himowicz we talk about Sergey’s approach to leading the development of the innovation ecosystem at MSD and his priorities in the first 18 months.
