Innovate on Purpose

Today's disruptions are tomorrow's incrementals

2009-07-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

We hear a lot about disruptive innovation. Every firm we talk to has some interest in disruptive innovation - either to prevent some other firm from disrupting their market, or to disrupt another market.

Disruption has been held up as the nirvana for ultimate innovators - kind of the Olympics of innovation sport, and rightly so. Any real disruption in a product, or service, market or industry can radically remake opportunities and reshuffle the competitive deck. However, a really disruptive idea or opportunity faces two significant challenges.

First, by its very nature, a disruption is dangerous. Dynamite, used in the right hands, can be a powerful tool, but in the wrong hands can be dangerous or even deadly. That's why it is regulated. A disruptive idea can be advantageous if applied correctly, but can backfire or cannibalize your existing market. For these reasons, disruptions are usually managed very carefully. Which leads us to the second challenge:

Time. Any disruptive activity or idea will take time to vet, build and deploy. The more disruptive the idea, in general the longer to deploy, since your organization doesn't have the people or processes to build or deploy a truly disruptive idea. So, incremental ideas can be deployed relatively quickly with less risk, while disruptive ideas will almost always take much longer to deploy.

So that leaves us with this conundrum: what seems like a really disruptive idea RIGHT NOW may seem very incremental when it is finally launched as a new product or service, given the fact that many times the product or service development lifecycle can be rather long. If you could commercialize that really disruptive idea today, it would be disruptive. If it takes nine to eighteen months to commercialize, by then other products or services may be addressing the opportunity or need you spotted.

The implication? If you want to launch disruptive innovations, learn to do it quickly, outside the normal development life cycle, or make sure the ideas are exceptionally disruptive, since the time lag from concept to product or service may be long enough that others address the opportunity before you do.

What we know too well

2009-07-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

In countless innovation projects, we've queried the management team about the state of research. What we're interested in is what the firm "knows" about its customers, its market and its opportunities. Typically we are quickly reassured that the firm has a significant amount of research, and it will be made available. What we usually find is that most research is focused on very specific product or service markets or niches, and on very short term opportunities. Most firms lack overall strategic insight, and most are heavily, if not exclusively weighted to quantitative research.

Now, there's nothing wrong with quantitative research, especially from a customer satisfaction perspective. After all, most firms want to be able to quantify their results and measure how well a particular service offering meets the needs of customers and satisfies their expectations. The problem in most firms is that "research" becomes obsessed with quantifying results of existing products and services. Ask any research team how happy the left-handed, red-haired baseball fans in the southeast like their existing product line, and you'll get an answer to three significant digits. Ask most research teams what these folks want next, or would consider a compelling innovation, and there's rarely a good answer or insight.

That's because most quantitative research (and, therein, most research conducted in major corporations) is focused on the existing products and services, and existing customers or strong prospects. This means we are experts at knowing what our existing customers are happy with or how satisfied they are with what we already offer. As noted above, from a customer satisfaction standpoint, that's great. From an innovation point of view, it's really not relevant.

Granted, it's hard to ask questions about what new products and services people want - most people can't tell you that on the fly. Often a new product or service must be experienced before customers can tell whether or not it will be valuable. But some insight about unmet needs or undiscovered opportunities should be conducted. Far too often we are asked to create new products and services that will "disrupt" a market, but with little direction and no sense of what customers want or need. Where most corporate research is focused, we know all too well what we know (quantitative, satisfaction oriented data) and far too little about what is important from an innovation perspective (qualitative, aspirational, unmet needs).

Further, we are quick to apply quantitative methods, which are internal strengths, to new ideas. Can we justify the new ideas using existing survey and research tools? Well, we definitely have the methodologies, but we may be asking the right questions in the wrong ways. As noted above, most people can't dream up new products and services on the fly, and even when presented with a new concept many people may find it hard to understand, or reject it simply because it represents change. It is dangerous to test new ideas using many quantitative tools, simply due to the fact that a new idea, regardless of its worth, is often rejected. After all, as Henry Ford said, if I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a 'faster horse'.

So, there are two traps when thinking about innovation and the role that research can play. First, we have a preponderance of narrowly focused research in most firms that tells us how satisfied existing customers are with existing products, but little to tell us what new products these customers want, or what would attract new customers. Second, our reliance on this existing strength often leads us to validate new ideas using tools and methods that we understand, but might not be the right "validation" methods for new ideas.

What we know too well is not enough when it comes to innovation, and what we know too well may actually trip us up when it comes to validating new ideas. New thinking is important when it comes to generating new ideas, and when it comes to validating them as well.

The burning platform for innovation

2009-07-07T11:01:00.001-07:00

Given all the bad news in the economy and the natural inclination to pull in the forces and cut costs, most businesses are having a difficult time doing anything from an innovation perspective right now. There are simply too many other factors in the marketplace that are commanding attention - the financial industry crisis, the possibility of changes in healthcare, the economic slowdown, cap and trade legislation, and the fact that things generally slow down in the summer anyway. All of these factors and more combine to put innovation on the back burner even at the most innovative of companies.

So, if your team wants to get something started, and you are fighting all of these factors in order to get time and attention, what can you do to get started? Create a burning platform for results.

This concept is really stolen from sales. A good salesperson knows that even if a prospect has money, and the solution is a good one for the buyer and the solution meets the needs of the buyer, the buyer often won't purchase unless there is another factor that makes the purchase URGENT. After all, people don't jump off of perfectly good platforms until they absolutely have to. That's why a burning platform is so important.

How do you create a burning platform from an innovation perspective? I'm glad you asked. There are a couple of approaches you can take. Note that none of these will necessarily create a innovation program or capability, but they will allow you to get something started, and perhaps that will light the flame for innovation in your business.

Create an innovation contest
Within your organization, identify one or two important opportunities or challenges and ask people to submit ideas to solve these challenges or opportunities. In this environment, certain challenges may be more acceptable than others. Those focused on cutting costs, or doing more with less. Be sure to appoint one or several winners and provide an award. With this approach, you've introduced the concept of a "campaign" and demonstrated the value of gathering ideas from the workforce. You can also extend this opportunity to customers as well.

Conduct a scenario planning workshop
Yes, I know, everybody is very busy, but even the most busy individuals need to get a grip on what the market looks like one, two or three years out. A short, focused workshop that looks at trends and competitors in the marketplace, and possible changes may identify new opportunities. Given the tremendous amount of change that may occur (health care, cap and trade, financial re-regulation) it makes sense to try to create alternative scenarios and get ahead of the change, rather than simply waiting for it to happen and then react to it. By then it will be too late.

Put a stake in the ground
This one is a little easier if you are the CEO or head up a line of business, but sometimes a deadline is worth more than anything else. Simply demanding an innovative new product or service nine months from today will force people to think differently and get started right now. While there are significant pressures on most businesses, there are also a significant amount of under-utilized and unemployed talent in the marketplace which can be directed to work on your new ideas.

Run a brainstorming session
This slowdown won't last forever, and as the economy turns more positive there will be people who want new products and services. Running a brainstorm or idea generation process now, in anticipation of the economy getting stronger, will provide you with the new product and service ideas that you can release then. Generating ideas and slowly developing them over time is much more effective in the long run than trying to do something quickly (see above), but either of these approaches can work, depending on the organization and the situation.

Identify important emerging needs
As the economy changes, and as legislation changes, there will be opportunities for new products and services. By the end of 2009 it is likely we'll see changes in how health care is delivered, financial re-regulation and an upswing in the economy. What opportunities do these factors create, and what existing products and services do they destroy? Knowing that, or at least having these insights will position you to take advantage as the opportunities unfold. Who is tracking trends in your organization?

These are a few ideas for getting a small innovation activity off the ground in this economy. At the worst, you could apply innovation skills and tools to cost cutting or operational excellence. But in that regard, rather than trying to save a few dollars or few minutes in a transaction or process, seek to find ways to eliminate the transaction or the process all together.

Innovation, more than any other function, needs a burning platform to kickstart it in most organizations. How can you create a burning platform in this economy?

Innovating outside the lines

2009-06-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

This is going to be one of those posts where I try to take a trite concept, like coloring inside the lines, and turn it into something more insight. Stick with me, we'll see how it goes.

As long as people have created art, there have been critics. One can imagine the first caveman to sketch a buffalo or mastodon probably had a critic standing just behind him, commenting on his work. I was thinking about this recently after watching a "Monk" episode. Perhaps you've seen Monk on television - played by Tony Shaloub, the detective is obsessive-compulsive, and that's just on his good days. Monk volunteers to watch the kids of his friend and colleague, Captain Stottlemeyer. He takes the kids to their favorite restaurant, a 50s themed diner, where they start coloring the menus. It drives Monk crazy that the kids won't color within the lines.

That got me thinking - everything we do in school and in business encourages people to stay "within the lines". In art we encourage people to "stay within the lines" of conventional art expectations. In science we encourage people to stay within the lines of received wisdom - after all, it was a "known fact" that the sun revolved around the earth for thousands of years. Think we are above that now?

In business we encourage people to "stay within the lines" by carefully defining their job descriptions. People who work outside of their descriptions and responsibilities are quickly reminded of their responsibilities. We encourage people to "stay within the lines" by developing specific evaluation criteria. We communicate effectively what we want from people, and reinforce that by what we provide in the way of compensation and rewards. We encourage people to stay within the lines through the power of formal and informal corporate culture, which is constantly pushing people to remain within the fold, within the expectations of the organization.

Then, we wonder why we can't innovate, why no one will - wait for it - "THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX". Hmmm. Perhaps it's because we've been constantly told that coloring outside the lines, working outside our job grade or job description, questioning the status quo, is wrong. We've become the trained elephant, which only requires a cuff to be placed on its leg to believe it is staked to the ground. If everything in your culture reinforces thinking "inside the box" and coloring "inside the lines" then why is your team surprised to find that innovation can be difficult?

What to do? Well, there are several responses to this, none of them easy. One that is often attempted and never seems to work well is to hire a couple of "left brained" people and scatter them throughout the organization, hoping they'll influence the thinking. Most of these people will be co-opted into the group think very quickly or ejected like a virus as quickly as possible. Another response is to demand innovation and change from a group that has been educated by the firm over time that change is difficult and new ideas are risky. A quick, rapid change in this environment is exceptionally difficult. The third, and most permanent change, is a consistent change from the top down, starting with strategic direction and working its way from the management team and its priorities into business plans and individual evaluations. This change may take two or three years, but the subtle shifts will encourage the entire team to get on board.

Why do we think people can immediately and effectively "think outside the box" when for their entire lives we've reinforced "coloring inside the lines"?

Operational Excellence - once an enemy, now a friend to innovation?

2009-06-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

OK I admit it. I've grown frustrated by the fact that a capability or insight that proves valuable to an organization - operational excellence - is also such a big impediment to innovation. It's strange that something that in some regards is so good for an organization can also be so detrimental as well.

How, you might ask, is a focus on operational excellence a detriment to innovation? Well, individuals measured on operational excellence want consistency, a clearly defined process that people follow closely, the elimination of failures and mistakes, the elimination of variance. These are GOOD things for an organization once it has determined the appropriate mix of products and services customers want. To be able to deliver the products and services at the highest quality and lowest cost is valuable.

However, all that focus on eliminating waste and variation and risk creates mental barriers for innovation that are very difficult to overcome. If a person or team has been evaluated and compensated for making the machine run efficiently and effectively, can they really stop in mid-stream and now work in a very different model - the model that innovation requires?

So, for years operational excellence has been my nemesis. But I've decided to use innovative thinking to turn the problem on its head. Perhaps what we should be asking is how to create an operationally excellent innovation process.

Those of you who follow this blog understand that firms that are successful at innovating have intentional innovation processes that are sustainable over time. It makes sense that if we want people in an organization to accomplish a complex set of tasks, we'd implement a defined process and method within which they can work. This is where the worm turns - if innovation is a defined process, then perhaps our friends who are interested in operational excellence can help us make those processes more effective and efficient.

Imagine changing the mindset of the organization - changing the cultural attitudes of the organization - by reinforcing the "operational excellence" concepts within a innovation oriented mindset. Let's find the best new ideas, and implement them in the best way possible. Suddenly these two concepts, which have been inimical, can now work in support of each other. This attitudinal change is not a simple one, but it is one that could happen. What's required is leadership from the senior executives to explain why innovation is so important, and how the concepts and methods of operational excellence can enable and support the organization to become more innovative.

It's at least worth a try.

Innocentive paints a bright future

2009-06-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

I had a chance recently to talk with Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of Innocentive, about the growth of Innocentive over the last few years and its strategic goals. I've had the chance to interact with people from Innocentive over the years and have followed it as another example of innovation creating a solution to a thorny problem - how can we get smart minds from across the world to present us with solutions to clearly defined problems.

Innocentive has grown and changed as a firm since I had the opportunity to interact with them, and Spradlin paints a very clear future and some specific goals. In fact, we talked about four changes that he and his team have implemented, and that bear watching over time. The first is that Innocentive, which originated in the pharmaceutical space, is really branching out - targeting "challenges" in many different industries and many different scientific categories. From its original roots it initially focused on very difficult scientific challenges, but is gradually opening up to other industries and other types of challenges. Second, the kinds of challenges and types of "solutions" Innocentive can capture have expanded. The bread and butter work for Innocentive remains the scientific challenge and solution, usually a very specific, well scoped problem that has a scientific solution, but increasingly Innocentive is offering brainstorming challenges (on the more general level) and electronic RFPs (on the more specific level) which allows Innocentive to offer a full range of idea generation and solution identifying services.

Third, and one I found interesting, is Innocentive is offering solutions to firms outside the commercial sector. Spradlin and I discussed a very successful relationship Innocentive has with the Rockefeller Foundation, where non-profits can seek funding and Innocentive sponsors challenges on their behalf. Spradlin and his team believe that non-profits, NGOs and other organizations should benefit from the power of organized innovation. Finally, Spradlin and I talked about "customer driven innovation" - the cultural shifts in most organizations that happen when firms realize there are more good ideas, and more perspectives, and more insights, outside the organization than inside the organization. Putting the customer first, clearly understanding their needs, and building products and services that meet their needs is the ultimate goal - customer driven innovation.

We spent some time, as you might imagine, talking about crowdsourcing and the role Innocentive plays in the crowdsourcing arena. There are a number of easily recognizable players in the space, including solutions like Dell's IdeaStorm or IBM's Idea Jams. Innocentive participates in this market and supports the concept of open innovation and crowd sourcing, but departs from the crowdsourcing mentality when it comes to evaluation of the ideas. Rather than a "thumbs up" or ranking/voting mechanism, the solutions presented to Innocentive are not judged by the crowds (Wisdom of Crowds) but by a select team within the organization that sponsored the challenge. Given the nature of the challenges and the specific requirements of the problem, as well as the sensitive nature of the solution and its intellectual property, this is probably the best solution.

Finally we talked about the growth of innovation software and idea management. As the market matures, it's not unusual that a firm may have one, two or even three different applications - one for pure ideation, one for idea management and one for crowdsourcing or other activities. Spradlin is interested in working with other idea management firms to create open APIs or markup language so that firms that have more than one idea management application could exchange information more freely. There's an acknowledgement of history in this discussion. Both the ERP and CRM behemoths like SAP grew by aggregating various capabilities into one monolithic umbrella - perhaps there's the option to keep smaller, more nimble firms and integrate and exchange information rather than create a fully integrated idea management solution for the enterprise. Time will tell.

I came away very impressed with Spradlin's vision for crowdsourcing and for Innocentive. One has to believe that the existing economy will force firms to find the best ideas, as always, but using methods and mechanisms that control costs and speed identification of the best solutions. I think Innocentive is well positioned to capitalize on the need for innovation and the growth of acceptance of open innovation and crowdsourcing.

Can you afford to innovate?

2009-06-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

Today we'll look at the affordability question of innovation from a contrary viewpoint. Usually people in my position sit hectoring business leaders about the fact that they "can't afford to not to innovate" which as we all know is poor grammar, a double negative and a lecture, all rolled into one. While saying this may make me feel righteous, and while I am probably correct, it behooves us to turn the tables around and ask ourselves - if we decide that innovation is important in our business, can we afford to do it?

Innovation has several costs associated with it as a practice. The first and most recognizable cost is financial - that is, the dollars that have to be spent in order to create new products and services. These dollars may be spent on consultants or third parties (feel free to ring us up for this kind of help) or on providing internal people and resources to an innovation team. Let's not kid ourselves. Innovation costs money - it is a form of experimentation, market research and investment.

The second cost is psychological and cultural. Can we enforce the change in thinking that is necessary to encourage the organization to think differently? This cost is actually more expensive than the fiscal cost. As a senior leader, you will need to invest your time and energy into ensuring that the cultural roadblocks and inhibitors are cleared out of the way so the innovation teams can function. It is a drain on your time and places stress on the organization and its culture. In many firms successful innovation will cost the culture something as well - which is why innovation is usually done in firms that are good at innovation from the start (already baked into the culture) or that are innovating their way out of a crisis (no other choice). Given any other option, most firms will grasp at other avenues out of a crisis - cost cutting for example, before turning to innovation.

The third cost is cannibalization. If your teams do a good job innovating, they are going to identify new products and services that overlap or make redundant existing products or services. In some instances they may create ideas that make a market or product line obsolete. Look no further than the big music stores to see what iTunes and music swapping/sharing has done to Tower Records. Would Tower Records have done this to themselves? Do they wish today that they had? Too many sacred cows in an organization will mean the cost is too high to consider innovation as a strategic tool.

The fourth cost is time. Innovation doesn't happen overnight. Well, idea generation may happen overnight, but validating an idea and bringing it to market certainly doesn't. Firms that demonstrate good innovation skills are constantly innovating, so there's not the concept of a "beginning" and "end" to innovation - it happens all the time, over time. We need a lot of time to be successful, and that time gets pulled from management, line workers and third parties. If your time is too valuable to share with an innovation team, then the innovation team ranks too low on your priorities.

So, if you look at this less than exhaustive list of cost elements, it's reasonable to ask yourself "Can we afford to innovate?". Innovation comes with exceptional benefits, but they are down the road, out a year or more, when the market is demanding return RIGHT NOW. Those returns are probable, and possibly big, but the costs are real and happening now. So the tradeoff is obvious. Many firms will argue that the possible payoffs are not worth the price in the short run, and will reach a reasonable conclusion that they can't afford to innovate. In the long run we have a name for these firms - market laggards. They have bought into the fallacy that innovation cannot "pay for itself" when strangely enough, all of the market leaders - J&J, P&G, Intel, Apple, Google, Boeing, Toyota, etc - are innovators and have found the investments necessary to innovate.

Can you afford to innovate? Of course you can. The real question is - do you have the "will" to innovate?

Banks - Utilities or Innovators?

2009-06-16T13:32:00.001-07:00

Whenever I run short of ideas or just need a different perspective, I check in on several blogs that I think are real leaders in their spaces. One I find that has great ideas and content is BankerVision, by James Gardner. He writes recently about a topic that I've been thinking about for some time, the choices firms make about innovation and their role in their markets.

I think too many firms assume their markets are zero sum games - that is, there are a fixed number of customers available in a market, and any I add must come from another firm in the industry. There isn't a lot of allowance for potential customers that are currently in the margins, or customers in adjacent spaces, or in many cases people who want to be customers but can't be. The banking industry is a great example - we know for certain that at least 20% of the US population is underbanked or unbanked - those are customers that most banks know exist but either overlook or have decided that those customers are too risky or unprofitable to exploit. So billions of dollars flow in a gray economy or in remittances or check cashing sites, while the banks continue to ignore or overlook these potential customers. Yet they will fight tooth and nail for their existing customers and the customers of their competitors, taking share and losing share from each other.

All the while other firms - Prosper, Mint, alternative payment networks - are angling in and slicing away customers by appealing to one or two significant needs, rather than a general banking product. So, the banks overlook some potential customers and allow themselves to be cut off from other single need customers. Does this sound familiar? If we were to go back to the 70s and substitute the names GM and Ford for the existing banks, and Toyota and Honda for the smaller disrupters, would that seem logical? Toyota and Honda sold to people who couldn't afford or were turned off by the "Big Three", and for the most part the Big Three had turned their backs on these customers. The Big Three ignored emerging customer segments in the US and fought over the same pool of customers.

So, to return to the title and concept of this post - is your market truly a "zero" sum game? And if so, should you become a "utility" that locks in its market and provides a good or service in the background - but does it so well there's little need or opportunity to change, or should you become an innovator?

Utilities succeed for the most part because they face little direct competition. Most individuals don't have many choices for their water or electricity service. Many banks are similar to monopolies, since once a banking relationship is established, it is difficult to break that relationship and switch, especially as the number of services or products acquired by an individual from a specific bank grows. However, utilities, at least the good ones, provide exceptional service. They keep the lights on 99.99% of the time, or constantly provide clean water, so they meet or beat expectations, and consumers don't have much choice anyway.

In the banking sector, there used to be much less choice, and much less switching. However, there are many banking options and choices available, and more will come on line. As new services are developed that allow people to painlessly switch their banking services from one provider to another, the winner in the space will be the firms that either aggregate services from many banks (Mint for example) or those that create interesting, innovative products that retain existing customers and attract new ones (sorry, no examples yet).

Banks could be utilities - they could provide so many of the services and features we need as consumers that there'd be no reason to switch or seek banking services elsewhere, but they've failed in their basic mission to establish trust and transparency. Imagine if their rates and fees were regulated like utilities - then again, that might happen.

If a bank can't successfully compete over time as a utility, then it must become an innovator, or watch its best customers get sliced away by firms that offer compelling services tailored to their needs, which are then aggregated into one view by firms like Mint.

Promises Kept - Why Innovation works

2009-06-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

I read the recent article in Business Week - The Failed Promise of Innovation - with a measure of expectation and regret. Here's a magazine that has as one of its leading lights Bruce Nussbaum, who is constantly writing about innovation and hosting innovation panels and events, yet either honestly believes that innovation has "failed" to meet its promises or is simply waving the flag at the bull. Of course Nussbaum wrote that innovation was "dead" at the end of 2008.

The article which suggests that innovation has failed leads in with the following paragraph:

But there's growing evidence that the innovation shortfall of the past decade is not only real but may also have contributed to today's financial crisis. Think back to 1998, the early days of the dot-com bubble. At the time, the news was filled with reports of startling breakthroughs in science and medicine, from new cancer treatments and gene therapies that promised to cure intractable diseases to high-speed satellite Internet, cars powered by fuel cells, micromachines on chips, and even cloning. These technologies seemed to be commercializing at "Internet speed," creating companies and drawing in enormous investments from profit-seeking venture capitalists—and ordinarily cautious corporate giants. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan summed it up in a 2000 speech: "We appear to be in the midst of a period of rapid innovation that is bringing with it substantial and lasting benefits to our economy."

If you read the above carefully you'll see that innovation has failed in the eyes of this author because, for all intents and purposes, we don't have the jet backpack that we were promised. If we were promised a gadget or gizmo by the folks in Disney's Tomorrowland that we don't yet have, well, innovation has failed.

Perhaps a more enlightened and reasonable argument is that innovation happened, just not where we expected it. A tremendous amount of innovation happened in financial services - some of it bad, yes, but some of it will prove out to be great. Let's look at Prosper or other micro-lending sites for example. A tremendous amount of innovation happened in personal communications - the iPhone and other cell phones are merging the telephonic needs with computing needs and other needs.

Let's look back at that quote again and consider it from a different angle. Why don't we have cars that run on fuel cells? Well, we can, it's just that the conditions haven't matured for fuel cells to be the dominant mode of propulsion. Gasoline and diesel engines, along with hybrids are still more efficient than fuel cells. An innovation or great idea holds promise, but it must succeed in the marketplace. Fuel cells hold great hope, and will become a significant source of propulsion when gasoline remains above four dollars a gallon or when Congress decides to mandate their use. Does this mean that innovation "failed"? No, just that some of these concepts identified above were talked about years ahead of their time. Micromachines and MEMS provide another great example.

Many projectors that we use every day or televisions we have at home are powered by a MEMs device - the Digital Light Processor from Texas Instruments. There are MEMs devices out in the world today, we are just beginning to see them enter the market. While the idea was great, developing the manufacturing capability to produce them took - wait for it - innovation in manufacturing techniques. Just because we can envision a MEMs device doesn't mean that we had the capability to produce them with very low error rates at volume.

Innovation isn't dead, and it hasn't failed to meet unreasonable expectations or promises. Instead of creating these false peaks and unrealistic expectations about innovation, perhaps we should simply create the environment where innovation can thrive and get out of the way. Some of the biggest impediments to innovation aren't technological or even monetary, they are cultural and bureaucratic. The next article written about this will certainly suggest that since innovation has "failed" in the private sector, perhaps the Federal Government should create specific programs to "manage" and fund innovation in specific segments, which will lead us directly to where Japan was in the 1980s with MITI, a failed corporatist policy.

Innovation is supposed to fail, frequently and with consequences. Taking risks means that some of the ideas HAVE to fail for others to succeed. Edison didn't create the best, most effective lightbulb on his first try - he failed repeatedly and what we see today is only the success based on a tremendous number of attempts.

If we look carefully, innovation has happened all around us, and we'd be foolish to suggest that innovation has "failed". If it didn't happen in the markets we'd hoped, or in the timeframes we'd hoped, then perhaps the market demand guided innovation to happen in the places where consumers demanded it most.

Pulp Innovation - Continued...

2009-06-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

If you've enjoyed Pulp Innovation, then please continue to follow it at http://pulpinnovation.blogspot.com. I will continue the saga of Sam Marlowe and the innovation consulting team at Marlowe Innovation at that site, since I want to turn my attention back to current events in the innovation space in this blog site.

As always, please feel free to contact me with your thoughts or suggestions at:
info (at) ovoinnovation (dot) com.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Twenty Five

2009-06-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

With Meredith coming aboard, Matt and I decided to ensure we had documented our methods and processes, to make it easier for Meredith to come up to speed on the products and services we delivered to our clients. That meant that we had to get a lot of our concepts on paper, rather than simply retaining them in our heads. Additionally, we agreed to train Meredith in our approach, so that she would be able to participate on projects that weren't related to market research or ethnography, and hopefully she'd learn enough that she could take on a leadership role on our projects.

Take two dyed in the wool consultants, numerous innovation projects over the years with at least 30 different clients and try to distill that down to an organized methodology, so you can teach a new partner the "ropes". Talk about drinking from the firehose. Matt and I debated, and wrote, and condensed, and debated some more. At the end of the week we'd developed an outline for a five day training session, which we felt would serve as a great introduction to many of the phases of an innovation project, and give Meredith a chance to understand the sweep of the work she'd be involved in.

The first day was focused on innovation and corporate strategy. This is an area that is often overlooked, in our experience. The CEO or some "C" level executive proclaims the need for innovation, and a couple of teams scurry around creating some new item or gizmo, only to discover that the new creation doesn't align to corporate needs or expectations. No, we firmly believe that successful innovation requires a good understanding of the corporate goals and directions, and we advocate thinking about innovation as an enabler to corporate strategies, rather than a strategy unto itself. There, I've used the word "enabler" in a sentence which either makes me a consultant or a psychotherapist. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

The second day of training is focused around spotting opportunities. Many firms we work with have the opinion they can innovate from the "inside out" - that is, that many of their customers are simply clamoring for the great new technologies that XYZ firm has dreamed up. Unless your named after a popular fruit, that doesn't seem to hold much water in the real world. Most successful innovators need to examine trends, understand their competitors, and rub elbows with their customers to understand the needs and opportunities in the marketplace. Day two was written to consolidate trend spotting and synthesis, lead users and a number of other techniques to gain customer insight. Of course Meredith could flesh out the section on Ethnography and market research.

Matt tackled day three - which was about creativity and idea generation. In our years of consulting, we'd rarely come across a well-run ideation or brainstorming process in our clients. Too often the sessions were either poorly led or led by someone with a stake in the outcome, which biased the process and the results. Additionally, many of these so-called brainstorms turned into debating societies rather than follow the best practices for brainstorming outlined by the Creative Problem Solving Institute and others over the years. So Day Three was focused on idea generation, with a heavy emphasis on managing an effective brainstorm, but with a look at a number of other idea generation techniques. Matt excelled at this, so he worked up a great program for Day three.

Day Four was my specialty. Once we've identified opportunities and needs (Day Two) and generated ideas to satisfy those needs (Day Three), how does a team turn a raw idea into a new product or service? In Day Four we examined the needs for a consistent innovation process and the roles and responsibilities that exist within that process. My favorite analogy: suppose I want to create a new purchase order. Certainly I'd speak with a person in purchasing who'd have a binder with all the necessary processes, and a purchasing system would be in place to help me place my order. All of the steps would be documented and everyone would have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. What about generating and documenting ideas? Does any process exist? Is it defined? Do the people who need to be involved to flesh out ideas and evaluate them understand their roles? Who are we kidding? While there is no one required innovation process, every firm that succeeds at innovation has a process that they follow.

The fifth day examined innovation leadership, especially focused on changing the culture of the organization and identifying traits of successful innovation leaders. Matt and I based this day on the team leads that we'd found who were successful in our clients, and used case studies to identify why some firms had been less than successful. Imagine telling your employees to be innovative - to take big risks and change the organization - but holding them accountable to the same evaluation and compensation processes that existed before the introduction of an innovation program. Of course everyone reverts to what they are evaluated and compensated on, which isn't innovation, so little to nothing gets done. Without significant culture change, innovation is tough to do even with great idea generation, opportunity identification and an innovation process.

After a week of development, debate and self-reflection, Matt and I were pretty pleased with the results. What we had, in fact, was a curriculum not only for Meredith but one we could offer our clients as well. We both were comfortable leading groups, and had a tremendous range of innovation experiences to draw from to ensure the training wasn't simply an academic exercise. Meredith's acceptance was paying dividends even before she showed up for her first day of work.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Twenty Four

2009-06-05T05:02:00.000-07:00

We finished our lunch with Meredith and thanked her for her time. After the usual pleasantries that are exchanged when people you barely know are departing, she did something I admired.

"Well, how'd I do?" she asked.

Matt's eyes widened and I laughed. A direct question deserves a direct answer I thought.

"Personally, I think you've got good experience and good insights."

"But.."

"But Matt and I need to talk about the impact of a third partner, and whether or not we believe you could work the way we work. Leaving a safe corporate nest for the world of consulting is a big change. We at Marlowe can be a bit rough around the edges and we have big expectations of each other, and the folks we work with."

"How can I prove to you that I can contribute and want to work as part of your team?"

I knew I liked her. It was a good question. How can you prove yourself if you aren't given a chance to do so?

"Tell you what" I said. "Can you arrange to take a vacation from your job and join us on a job as a spectator? Then you can see for yourself how we work and what our expectations would be of you. At the end of that, if you are comfortable with us, and we with you, we'd offer you the position." I glanced at Matt for this last bit, checking to see if he was on board. The slight tilt of his head assured me he was.

"I'm interested and I'd be willing to do that. How soon can we make it happen?"

"I'll be in contact with you in two or three days. We'd need to identify the right client. As soon as I think we've got the right opportunity, we'll let you know. If you haven't heard from me by next Friday, give me a call."

"Thanks, Mr. Marlowe. I'm very interested in working with your firm. I don't want to seem pushy but I'd like to arrive at a decision quickly."

"I understand, and I appreciate your directness. As I said, I will find an opportunity for you to come in and work with us, and we can take the decision from there."

I turned to go to Matt's car. Matt caught me and walked stride for stride down the sidewalk. "What project can we bring her into that will give her the sense of what we do?"

"I don't know which would be best, but I like her style and we can use her skills in several clients we have currently. Do you have any reservations about her?"

"Same as yours. It can be tough to make the jump from corporate life to the life of a consultant. She's got good presence and clearly understands market research and ethnography."

"So are you saying we should just make the offer now?"

"Yes, I am." That pulled me up short. Matt had walked on several paces before he realized I had stopped.

"You were dragging your feet on this just a few days ago. Did she do so well over lunch that she changed your mind?"

"Look, number one, she's got the skills. Two, she's even better in person than on the phone. Three, we tell our clients to be decisive and make the decisions that are evident. Why shouldn't we take our own advice?"

What can you say when the evidence falls out in such a compelling way? I shrugged and nodded. We continued on to the car.

That afternoon I called Meredith and offered her the job, if she wanted it, without any other conditions. After some negotiation over salary and start date, she accepted. Now, Marlowe Innovation had two senior partners and one junior partner, and the capability to deliver an entirely new set of insights to its customers.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Twenty Three

2009-06-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

After my call with Johansen I took my sales frustration out on the piles of work I had on my desk. I was able to plow through several weeks worth of messages, followups and introductory calls by the time lunch rolled around. Matt and I had planned a lunch to meet with a candidate to join our practice, an experienced ethnographer and market research consultant who was looking to join an innovation firm. Both Matt and I felt that her skills could effectively round out our team. Matt was the idea generation guy and did a lot of work on culture and communication. I led a lot of trend spotting and synthesis work, and also focused on building innovation processes and methods. Together we both offered training. What we were missing, however, was the capability to help a firm identify customer and prospect wants and needs, especially from a qualitative viewpoint. Meredith could fill Marlow Innovation's most obvious hole.

Her background and skills were impeccable. She had graduated only a few years before, from one of the few universities that granted an ethnography degree, since that branch of study had only recently split from the more traditional anthropology degree. After graduation she had worked for a mid-sized bank, but given the turmoil in the banking industry and the slow pace of change in that industry as a whole, she was looking for something more interesting and with more change. I had my concerns.

Moving from a safe, traditional nine to five in the banking space, to a consulting role in the innovation space was a big leap. In addition, Matt and I worked as hunters - we found the work, won the work and as a team we completed the projects we could staff internally, and sourced partners when we needed them. Both Matt and I had sales responsibility, and anyone coming aboard would need to pull their weight in the sales cycle. Would Meredith be able to make the transition from a relatively stable role in a slow moving industry to a consulting role that demanded quick thinking and learning new industries, while taking on sales responsibility and project leadership? It was a steep hill to climb.

I had liked Meredith from the start if for no other reason than that she had contacted us for the interview. I liked that get up and go attitude, and she seemed interesting and engaging on the phone when we first spoke. I'd let Matt talk with her as well before we brought her in to meet in person, to ensure I had his buy in and support. Matt gave her the thumbs up so we planned to meet at Darby's on Lancaster street - a neutral site that allowed us, and her, to back away if the first face to face didn't go well.

Darby's is one of those places that seems to exist only to satisfy my eating requirements. It has a chalkboard full of daily sandwich specials that only Dagwood could truly appreciate. Most of the sandwiches are stacked high with meats, cheeses and vegetables, and make for difficult eating even with good friends. I suppose I should have suggested a place where the food was easier to consume while talking, but Darby's it was. We arrived and took our regular booth near the back and waited for Meredith to arrive.

"You sure we can afford another person on the team?" Matt asked. We'd been through this before - we had a good pipeline of work for us and a few others, but bringing another senior person on board meant more sales efforts for both of us. However, I thought we could recoup the costs by taking on the work we'd been sourcing to other ethnography and research firms.

"I think we can get more work from our existing customers and take on larger projects with Meredith, and we won't need to outsource so much research work" I said. "No guarantees, but I think her skill set is something we need. You getting cold feet?"

"Cold, no. Cool, possibly. It means a lot of work to bring someone aboard, and it would be a big change for her as well."

"She's probably not the hard bitten type yet, you mean. Used to the 9 to 5 routine. Can she come up to speed quickly on a new industry, and add value quickly?"

"Yeah. It's an issue. Plus we have this charming rouge image to uphold. Is that possible if we add a younger woman to our mix?"

We were about to find out, as Meredith approached our table. She was younger than Matt and me, not that that mattered, tall and thin, with a slightly pinched face. She'd be more attractive if she smiled, I thought to myself. She looked a bit bookish and shy, unlike what I expected from our call.

"Mr. Marlow" she asked.

"I'm Marlow" I said, scooting around in the booth and taking her hand. "And this is Matt Ferguson, my partner. You spoke with him last week."

"Pleased to meet both of you" she said, but didn't look pleased. She clasped a portfolio close to her chest, as if she might need to ward off our possibly unseemly advances.

"Please join us. Can we get you something to drink?"

"Yes" she said. "Is it close enough to lunch to order a bourbon?"

I knew I had liked her on the phone.

It turned out that Meredith was very nervous, and after meeting a couple of guys like Matt and I you could understand why. After her drink, and a brief introduction from me on the firm and how we operated, she seemed to become much more comfortable.

"I've been working for Coastal Bank for over five years" she said "doing primary research, quantitative mostly, and some voice of the customer work. I've not had a chance to do as much ethnography as I had hoped, but I have participated in the development and launch of two new products. The work is interesting but slow, given the culture. The bank doesn't want a lot of risk, so we carefully plan our new products and I think we often miss opportunities. I'd like to do more primary research and ethnography, and I think a consulting firm focused on innovation would be the right place for me."

"What do you think ethnography and market research can add to an innovation project?" Matt was opening the door. Meredith would make or break her opportunity with us with this answer.

"Most market research tells us what customers like, or don't like, about what we already offer. Ethnography can give us insights into what people do, and why they do it, and offer a glimpse into needs that they have we can fill. Rather than talk about what they don't have, or don't even know they need, we may be able to spot opportunities they haven't recognized, or needs they have they aren't aware of yet."

I met Matt's eyes and he nodded slightly. Meredith had the right insights. Now, could she work the way we worked?

Pulp Innovation Chapter Twenty Two

2009-06-01T04:53:00.000-07:00

I was back in my office, bright and early the following Monday. Well, 9:30 is early for me and it was bright outside anyway, a sunny, clear day that promised the start of a great week. On my desk there was the flotsam and jetsam of a person in and out of the office constantly, working on a range of different projects, each of which had their own timing and progress. A dozen pink slips were there, requesting and in some cases demanding a return phone call. I knew it would be a busy morning.

Matt had also decided to grace us with his presence that morning. His desk, unlike mine, was spotless and completely organized. How he managed to do it was beyond me. Like a duck I supposed, calm above the surface but paddling like hell below it.

I started my day with the usual, a steaming cup of coffee and an unfiltered Camel. Matt and I had been together as a team long enough that we had the old couple ritual down.

"Morning" he said, without even a second glance. "Breakfast of champions I see."

"Breakfast of Champions is a Vonnegut novel. Turns out that caffeine stimulates the brain - so coffee is a brain food."

"And cigarettes?"

"They simply have the ability to repel people who would otherwise require me to eat a bran muffin every day."

"So you are a defensive smoker?"

"You could think of it that way."

Given our heads, we could carry on a patter like this just like Bacall and Bogart. We'd learned not to carry it too far - no whistling references, but on any given day it was a one-upmanship game to see who'd give in first. Today, I was too enthusiastic and too busy to carry on. So Matt stepped on my toes for me.

"What's up with Accipiter?"

That's what I wanted to know. Four days after our meeting and not a word from anyone. Usually silence meant you'd shot and missed. Fine, if I missed, no problem. Just let me know I missed and what you were expecting. Any meeting is a learning experience for me, just as much as for my prospects. I had already resolved to ring Phillips and possibly Johansen to see what the word was in the informal network.

"I thought the presentation went well" I said. "No word yet from them. You know how it is."

"Yep, I know how it is."

Matt did know how it is. He had a set of his own clients and knew the sales score. Talk to ten, get engaged with three or four, hope to close one or two. And never hear a word more than absolutely necessary from your clients. I suppose they think we innovation consultants have extrasensory hearing along with our ultra-creative personalities. In most cases I've never experienced a sales process with less interaction, less communication and more surprises than when selling innovation services. Given what we knew, and how we could help, I was constantly surprised by the lack of engagement during the sales process. Accipiter was following the tried and true approach we'd seen from a number of our clients - a series of high profile meetings with no clear goal, interactions with a range of different people with very different and often conflicting goals and agendas and no clear outcomes.

"I'm planning to shake the tree over there later this week" I said, more to cover the fact that I wasn't sure how to shake the tree, or if there was even a tree to shake. It wasn't clear who was in charge of the initiative, and what the ultimate goal of the effort was. "I'm going back to the folks I think are champions for us and for the project, Briggs and Johansen. He's in HR and she's the nominal project manager. Neither of them are decision makers, but perhaps they can give me a read on what is happening."

"Flying a bit blind, are we?"

"Stumbling in the dark with a blindfold barefoot in a room full of broken glass."

"That bad?"

"Yes. But there are some real opportunities there if we can get a project started. We can do some great things for them, and I think they have the energy and desire to create some interesting new products and services. We've just got to overcome the inertia that builds up around things like this."

"What are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and give someone a call. Let's get that thing moving". Matt wanted the win almost as much as I did.

I pulled out a pile of crumpled business cards from my desk drawer, sorting through them looking for the joker and the ace. In this case, Johansen was the ace I thought. She doesn't make the decisions but does seem to be the fair haired child. Briggs, on the other hand, is the joker - he gets the downstream benefit of innovation but won't necessarily be involved in the project. However, he did seem to have his ear to the ground, and understand the value that an innovation initiative could bring to retention and recruiting new employees. Which one do I call first? I decided to dial Johansen. While not in the loop, at least she was in the direct line of succession.

The phone rang and was answered by a crisp, impersonal voice. "Accipter Enterprises" the voice said.

"Susan Johansen please"

"Thank you" and the voice was gone, replaced by a humming, a few clicks and the ringing sound.

"This is Susan Johansen"

"Susan, this is Sam Marlow. Is this a good time to take a minute to speak with me?

"Hello Sam. I have just a few minutes before my 10 o'clock." I glanced at my watch. Five minutes to ten. Just enough time to get the story from the inside.

"That's fine. Shouldn't take that long. I appreciate the chance to catch up with you. I am simply trying to understand what the next steps are with Accipiter. Have you heard anything coming out of our presentation and the executive team meeting last week?"

There was some paper shuffling on the other end, a slight pause and then "Not really. I heard your presentation was well received but beyond that there's not been any action on it as far as I know."

"If you don't mind me asking, this is going to be your project. What do you think will happen?"

"I've been asked to lead an innovation project by Bill Thompson, but he needs to get the executive team agreeable and on board. Your presentation was a first step toward doing that. I think Bill believes we still have to bring several of the executives on board. Several of them are uncertain about the investments and risks of innovation, and are frankly protecting their budgets."

"OK - do you know if there is a plan to get them on board?"

"I don't know yet. Bill and I are scheduled to talk on Wednesday. Can I give you a call then when I may know more?

"Of course, and thanks. I know you'll need to move on to your meeting, so I'll just plan to call you Wednesday afternoon."

"That will work for me."

"Thanks Susan"

"You're welcome."

Matt glanced at me. He didn't have to say anything. We both knew it would be a long, drawn out sales cycle.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Twenty one

2009-05-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

I won't bore you with the details of the brainstorming effort with Cantide, except to say that each brainstorming session I conduct reinforces the sense that well run brainstorms seem to run themselves, while poorly planned and conducted brainstorms seem to start and stop, accelerate and slow at random points, much like a stickshift car driven by a teenager.

I was fortunate at Cantide to be working with a team that was well prepared, had a clear understanding of the opportunity and understood the rules and methods of good ideation. My job was simply to keep the team talking, clarify ideas and occasionally nudge the team to think more creatively. Even with a team that is well-prepared and engaged in the idea generation, ideas come in waves, ebbing and flowing as the ideas spill out. Just when you think that one vein has been exhausted, simply changing the perspective slightly or asking a new question can open up an entirely new vein of ideas.

Once we'd finished the idea generation phase of the brainstorm we consolidated some of the duplicates and grouped the ideas into major categories. Then we worked through a voting mechanism that allowed the group to identify the ideas they felt were the strongest and most likely to succeed. After that we assigned ideas and specific follow up actions to individuals in the room, who were willing to sign up for the additional work, and set a meeting time two weeks later to review their progress.

At the end of the day I was spent. I've read that the brain is a calorie burning machine, and I guess even in tired innovation consultants that is true. I've noticed that a day of idea generation and brainstorming wipes me out, and I've heard the participants say the same thing - idea generation is real work when done well. I shook hands with Frank and thanked him for asking us to facilitate, and left Cantide for the day. In the parking lot I called Matt to see if there was anything pressing going on in the office, otherwise I had a date with another Raymond Chandler and a single malt on my sofa.

Matt said it had been quiet in the office, and he'd gotten a lot of work done on the upcoming training session he was leading for a new client. No word from Accipiter.

Not that I expected to hear from them yet, but I had hoped to get some feedback on the presentation. I made a note to call Fred Phillips, since he was in attendance, to get some insights from him about the meeting with the Accipiter executives and ascertain their comments or feedback if he was willing to share that with me. Otherwise I could probably get the same information from Briggs, however I felt he was biased toward the innovation project, while Fred was at best neutral.

I climbed into the car and headed for home. The traffic on the freeway was clogged like an ancient artery, cars like red blood cells pooling, clotting, breaking up and moving again, start and stop. The late day sun hung heavy in the sky as the smog started to rise, the air heated by the exhaust of a million people heading for home after a long day at work. I was just a corpuscle on the highway like so many others.

When I arrived at my apartment there was a message on my machine. June had called, wanting to know if I'd like to eat dinner together. June lives in my building, a few floors down, and we've carried on an on-again, off-again relationship for a number of years, neither of us committed enough to the relationship to take the next step, but both of us enjoying the other enough to re-kindle the flames every couple of weeks. June was from the deep South, Mississippi I believe, and had made her way to the coast in the hopes of landing a job in an office and working and living in the big city. She'd achieved both of those rather modest goals, and had her eye on moving up in the advertising world, most likely only to be stymied in her goals by the organizational hierarchy and the fact she's named June and not James.

I kicked off my shoes, jerked off my tie and threw my jacket and tie on the couch. I didn't feel like going out, but didn't mind the idea of seeing June either. I picked up the phone, punched in her number and heard the rings on the other end of the line.

"Hello"

"June, it's Sam"

"Hi Sam. How're things?"

"Things are fine. And you?"

"I'm good. A bit tired but hungry. Do you want to join me in a dinner out?"

"June, I've got a different proposition. What if we order in? I've been on my feet most of the day on a consulting gig, doing some idea generation work with a client. I don't think I'd be great company out, but would like to see you."

"Well, I suppose that would be fine. I could order some Chinese from the place down the street."

"That would be great. Want to come over in 30 minutes or so? Give me a chance to clean up a bit? I have some beer and perhaps a bottle of white in the fridge."

"You do know how to make it sound enticing Sam. I'll order the food to your place and be over in 30 minutes."

"Great. See you then."

Knowing June, and by extension a good number of women, I knew the food would arrive in exactly 30 minutes, and June some 10 to 15 minutes thereafter, to be comfortably, fashionably late. That meant I had time for a shower and to clean up my apartment before she arrived. Which was a good thing, since it appeared my interior decoration consisted of flinging most of my worldly goods from the center of my room and being quite content with where they all landed. After all, scattered socks in the kitchen and cutlery in the bathroom must represent some in vogue modern art, or at least a existential experience at living in the moment. Or perhaps I was just too lazy to clean until it was really required. Which it was at at moment like this.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Twenty

2009-05-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

I left the Excelsior feeling good about my presentation, hoping I had ruffled a few management feathers and challenged Accipiter to take innovation by the horns. After any executive presentation like this one, I felt drained but strangely elated, the way I expect that people who run 10Ks feel at the end, although the furthest I'd ever run was from the booth to the bar and back, careful not to spill my drink.

The next day I was scheduled to facilitate some ideation work at Cantide Enterprises, an old client that had adopted many of our ideas about an innovation capability. We had helped Cantide define their innovation goals and processes and identified a core team to build out the methods, processes and tools for innovation. The core team would periodically identify new opportunities to pursue or work with the lines of business to spark new innovation campaigns to target emerging market opportunities. Cantide would call us to facilitate scenario planning workshops based on the trends the core team captured, or to facilitate ideation sessions on important topics.

The great thing about working with Cantide is that the core team understands what innovation is all about and is eager to get going on any innovation project. We don't stand around gazing at our navels and wondering what we should do next. When Cantide calls, I know there will be a clear opportunity or challenge defined and the teams will be trained and ready to go. Frankly, at this point in their evolution, Cantide has the people who can lead the ideation sessions without us. But I think they like to keep a fresh perspective and bring us back from time to time to keep their innovation teams honest. Cantide's core innovation team had been through our training and implemented the 'best practices' we'd published for them about idea generation, so they had a team ready to go when I arrived that morning.

Frank Adams, the head of the core innovation team at Cantide, met me in the lobby.

"We've got the team all lined up for an ideation session today. They've reviewed the background materials and we've prepared them for an ideation session on new opportunities in the electric vehicle market. Personally Sam, I think there's a huge opportunity there for Cantide, and this idea generation session can really kick start new ideas to help us enter that market."

Frank was fully on board, as was most of his team. Cantide's CEO was noted in the industry as someone who liked to shake things up, and entering a new market like electric vehicles was exactly the step that Cantide was likely to take.

"Is the purpose of entering the market to disrupt the existing market for electric vehicles?" I asked.

"Yes" he said. "Many of the existing firms in that market are merely porting gasoline powered vehicles into that space. We believe there's an opportunity for a completely new design of the vehicle, the body, the chassis and the motor."

"Is the team ready?" I asked.

"We sent out a framing document with our expectations and background material last week. The head of the vehicle LOB personally sent emails to those who were selected to brainstorm, encouraging them to use this time to think creatively and bring back great ideas. I think we have a great group. Come on, let's introduce you as the facilitator and get the ideas flowing."

Frank and his team had definitely done their job well. The team assembled for the idea generation session was engaged and excited, and you could sense from the energy in the room that they felt the work was valuable and important.

I prepared myself for the facilitation role. Normally I'm not much of a 'leading man', especially when it comes to ideation facilitation. Not to be too hard on myself - I do have a range of great ideas, but I'm not quite the on-stage personality that Dave or Matt can be. I like to say that facilitating a brainstorm is like being a game show host and a therapist all at the same time. You are certainly on stage, and to an extent the center of attention, but none of the meeting is about you. The ideas are the star of the show, and your job as a facilitator is to keep the energy and enthusiasm of the team high, while keeping the focus on the ideas. At the same time, you have to draw out the ideas from those who are a bit pensive, and help rephrase or reframe ideas that are suggested. Often there's a deeper meaning or a better idea lurking just below the surface, and you have to draw that out, while not forcing the idea into your own little box. The best facilitators are people who can light up a room, but know when to draw attention to themselves and when to focus attention on the ideas.

While I am not dramatic, I do like to kick off the meeting with a few dramatic touches. The first is the ritual closing of the door - to seal the team off from the rest of the world for a few hours. My standard pitch is usually something like this:

"While we are in the room together, we can generate any idea we want. We have all the money available to us, and we can break or make any rule we want. If we need to be able to fly for an idea to succeed, we can fly. If we need to travel in time, we can do that. The only way for us to succeed today is to be willing to work together, to suspend our critical thinking for a while, and generate really interesting ideas. Do you think you can do that?"

This generally gets some smirks, giggles and a few disdainful looks, but I knew Frank and his team had prepared the brainstorming team, so we moved on to the next step.

"Frank and his team have placed some rules up on the wall. We have always found that good brainstorming is managed by a set of rules. Seems strange, doesn't it, that idea generation works best when governed by some rules? The rules are:
1) Generate wild ideas - we can always make them safe later 2) Don't judge ideas too early - there will be time later to decide which ideas are feasible. Don't judge while we are brainstorming. 3) Generate a large quantity of ideas - don't worry about whether or not your idea is the best - just generate many. Your idea may spark a new idea from someone else. 4) Build on the ideas of others. The best ideas are often ones that are builds from a previous idea. Use the phrase "Yes, and" rather than "Yes, but". 5) Use the phrase "What if" to start your dialog when possible. 6) Stay in the phase we're in. If we are generating, then generate ideas and evaluate or judge them later. If we are in an evaluation phase, then evaluate the ideas then. Finally, once an idea is generated it belongs to the group, rather than any individual. In that way we aren't associating an idea or concept with a person, but considering the idea in its own right."

Those rules were taped up on the walls, easily available for the team to see. I think Frank had prepared the team to expect these rules and they seemed to accept them readily.

"I'll be facilitating the brainstorm today, which means it's my job to start you talking and keep you talking about ideas. Frank will be acting as a scribe, to capture the ideas you present. From time to time we'll stop and ask for clarification about an idea as we are capturing. Frank and I may also submit ideas from time to time. Before we get started, are there any questions?"

An overly eager person named Todd toward the back of the room raised his hand.

"Yes" I said.

"What will we do with the ideas we generate once the brainstorming is complete?"

I turned to Frank, who answered. "We'll rank the ideas and select the ones that we believe are the best, which will then be assigned to a team for further evaluation."

"How can I get on that team?" Todd asked.

"You just did" said Frank.

"Any other questions before we start?" I asked.

None were coming, so I prepared to start the brainstorm.

"As we begin, let's reconsider the opportunity that brings us here. Cantide is interested in entering the market for electric vehicles. Our purpose today is to generate ideas about the electric vehicle market and examine how we can use the knowledge and products and partners we have to best disrupt that market."

I turned to Frank. "Anything else to ensure the team is on the same page?"

"You've read the material and know the opportunity" Frank said to the team. There were nods all around. "Let's get started" he said.

And we did.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Nineteen

2009-05-27T04:48:00.000-07:00

I was 40 minutes into a 60 minute presentation, and getting the high sign from young Mr. Executive at the back of the room. He was looking for a quick wrap up, but I felt I had the buy-in of the group to pace myself and cover the remaining material effectively. I shot him a frozen rope and he sat down, looking unhappy and glancing around for support from the executives at the conference table.

"As my time is almost up" I said "I'd like to recommend a few actions and some things to think about as you begin to structure your innovation program."

Everyone shifted in their seats. They'd endured the 40 minutes of lecturing about innovation, and were ready for the punch lines. Finally, they were thinking, here comes the actual stuff we need to do.

"First, build an innovation team that can assist the business with consistent innovation methods, idea generation and trend spotting. The team doesn't need to be large - three to five people is fine - but does need to be full time. This team will form the core of your innovation program and act as the keepers of the culture, who can help others in your organization create innovation projects and programs."

At this Thompson interrupted.

"Do you mean one centralized team or do you mean one team per line of business?"

"We think that one central team that is not beholden to a specific line of business is more valuable, since it can offer solutions to any line of business and is freed up from the quarterly demands within a line of business. The central team is really an organization to ensure consistent methods and processes are used, and to offer support to innovation teams in the lines of business."

"Thanks" he said. I think I had just helped him win a point over several of the individuals who were responsible for lines of business within Accipiter, but I didn't care. Innovation should happen in those lines of business but if each group creates its own methods and tools, anarchy will break out.

"Next" I said "you will have to have the right expectations about resources and time frames. Part-time innovators rarely succeed. They will be pulled back into their "day jobs" very quickly. If you are going to build a successful innovation capability, the central team and the individuals who work on innovation throughout the organization need to be committed to that work. Additionally, your team will need to understand the lead times from idea generation to new product or service launch. How long is your average product development cycle here at Accipiter?"

Phillips, who'd been silent throughout the discussion, weighed in. "Anywhere from nine to eighteen months, depending on the product." Other heads nodded in agreement.

"OK" I said. "That is from the time someone agrees to fund a new idea and convert that idea into a product or service?"

More nods all around.

"What's the 'typical' time from idea capture through to the decision to enter product development?"

Silence. I like asking that question because no one really knows. Even in a firm with a well defined innovation program, it can vary from a few weeks to five or six months. No one volunteered an answer.

"Let's assume its three to six months" I said, just to get a number out there. "If those numbers are reasonable, that means that once your teams commit to an innovation project, it's unrealistic to think that you'll have a new product or service in less than a year in the best of situations. As a management team, you have to set the right expectations for an innovation program."

More shifting in seats. Talking about more than a year was anathema to many of the people at the table, who were driven by Wall Street and the 90 day reporting structure.

"Also, you will need to consider how you fund innovation. Many firms try to fund innovation projects through their annual planning process. How successful do you think that is?"

One guy near the front rolled his eyes and shook his head. No volunteers on that one.

"We call an annual planning process an idea killing opportunity, mostly because there are many competing interests for very limited dollars, and most proposals are much more complete than idea proposals typically are at that stage. Think about this for a minute - does your customer or competitor care when you 'fund' projects, or whether or not there are funds available in this calendar year? No, of course not. They release new products according to their marketing plans and timeframes. I've worked with several firms that insisted on integrating innovation with their annual plans, which meant that great new ideas generated in the fourth quarter waited for funding in the summer as part of the following year's annual plan. Does that make sense to you? If not, we advocate an R&D fund for innovation, to move ideas that happen out of sequence with traditional funding models."

At this point the CFO spoke up. "What is the size of the budget you've seen in other organizations for an R&D innovation fund? she asked.

"As you would guess, it varies widely, but we've seen anything from several hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars available, distributed by the head of the innovation team or an innovation council."

She nodded and I continued.

"The last, and most important aspect for success in an innovation project is your behavior. If your team is invested in innovation, all of you will be advocating innovation, talking about innovation with your team, and willing to suffer a few setbacks as well as innovation successes. It's an old, hackneyed phrase, but you've got to walk the talk. You can't be successful asking people to innovate and then pull the rug out from under them at the first failure. There's too much risk and uncertainty involved. If you aren't sure you have the commitment as a management team to innovation, you'll be better off not starting a program that you won't fully back or support."

I wrapped up my presentation with a short conclusion and asked for questions.

One gentleman, near the back, asked "What can we expect as a return for an investment in innovation?" I think he was looking for an ROI or ROE kind of answer. Instead, I gave him this.

"The return will depend on your investment and expectations. You should also think about what kind of return you expect. We've had firms that launched innovation programs because they would create more organizational excitement and engagement, and they measured those programs as successes before the implementation of ideas. You may also want to measure the program based on what it does for your marketing and positioning. If you are actively engaged in innovation, it may impact your differentiation and the awareness of Accipiter in the press. Both of these are less quantifiable results, but valuable nonetheless. If you are asking about specific returns, like an ROI or ROE metric, I can't answer that because I don't know today the kinds of ideas you'll pursue, but I can promise you that it will most likely take at least a year to see any financial results whatsoever."

Probably not the answer he expected, but the one I felt was appropriate.

Young Mr. Executive was flapping his arms in a manner that led me to believe he was learning to fly or extinguishing flames near his seat. He was eager to wrap up and move the meeting on to the next agenda topic, which I believe was cocktails on the veranda of the Excelsior. I asked if there were any more questions. Seeing none, I wrapped up my presentation and packed up my gear.

Briggs approached me as I was finishing my packing.

"Thanks" he said "I think we all learned a lot today. I was especially appreciative of the comments you made about compensation and culture."

"Just part of our standard pitch."

"We have a small token of appreciation for your time. It's a check for $2500. I know it probably doesn't cover your actual costs, but the management team felt it was appropriate."

"Thanks" I said, surprised at the generosity. "I'll look forward to the opportunity to work with you and your team if Accipiter decides to move forward."

"That will be the big question"

I stopped to say thanks to Bill Thompson, who was surrounded by a covey of executives eager to bask in the sunlight of his position and power.

"Mr. Thompson, thanks for having me in today to speak with the management team. If there are any further questions, please feel free to forward them to me."

"Thanks, Sam. We all appreciated your presentation and will be getting in touch shortly to discuss the next steps."

I nodded and left, walking down the long halls to the lobby. The bar, with its dark booths and smooth whiskey beckoned, but I felt it was probably best to clear out of the Excelsior completely, rather than seem to lurk at the edges of the Accipiter meeting. Now the waiting game would begin.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Eighteen

2009-05-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

I decided to move along to the crux of the presentation.

"We believe there are several key factors for innovation success in any business" I continued. "Let's review several of those now".

The presentation flipped over and I presented on the first topic - strategic intent.

"In my experience, we find that the firms that have the most success from an innovation perspective are those that have clear 'strategic intent'. What I mean by this is that they have a clearly articulated vision and that people within the organization understand the company's strategy and goals. We often use the example of Apple. Apple didn't create the cell phone, or PC, or portable music player. They entered all of those markets after the markets had been proven and innovated around customer experience. If you look at Apple's successes - and failures - you'll see that they innovate around a core interest or capability - customer experience."

This seemed to get a few heads nodding, but I knew I wouldn't get the question I normally get when we do this presentation for mid-level managers. Inevitably, when we bring up this point to mid-level or more junior managers the question will come - "can you describe for us what our strategic intent or core strategy is?" usually in a joking manner. The disconnect between what a management team thinks it is communicating and what their teams hear and implement is often a wide gulf.

Next I addressed specific goals for innovation.

"Each quarter you identify revenue and cost goals for Wall Street and work diligently to achieve those goals. While innovation is often talked about as important, do you have specific, measurable innovation goals that you can report as well? For instance, the number of ideas generated in a quarter, the number evaluated, number of prototypes or pilots conducted, number of people within the organization active in an innovation program? Generally speaking, most firms talk about innovation but until there are metrics and measurements associated with innovation, it is difficult for innovation to rise to the level of importance it requires. Frankly, what we'd like to see is a specific innovation goal in an annual plan - innovation will be responsible for driving X% of our revenue in the upcoming year. Then, your intent and goals are clear and it's easier for people to understand what they are measured on and what's important."

I glanced around to see if there were questions or comments after this slide. I knew the points I was making were both obvious and things that Accipiter didn't do well, so there was a significant amount of shuffling and shifting in the seats. A few hostile glares, but, to their credit, a number of very engaged individuals as well.

At this point in the presentation we usually talk about the three "C's", three major roadblocks to innovation in any organization. Those are culture, communication and compensation.

"Most firms we work with want to kick off an innovation project as quickly as possible. However, from our experience we can tell you that until you address these three 'C's', your projects will falter. Culture, communication and compensation have a direct correlation with what the innovation teams can accomplish, and where they spend their time. Let's look at compensation for a minute. If we ask people to join an innovation program, but don't change the way they are evaluated (which indicates how they will be compensated) then we've set them up for failure from the start. Asking them do to some risky, uncertain work that isn't part of how they'll be evaluated is asking them to make tradeoffs between their existing jobs, which are well defined and the compensation and evaluation programs are intact, and innovation, which has little definition, no clear evaluation or compensation program. In an economy like ours, who is going to move into a short-term, uncertain position with little definition of compensation or evaluation metrics? Yet time and time again we see firms ask people to engage in innovation projects without changing their compensation or evaluations."

Briggs was fully engaged at this point, almost leaning over the table to demonstrate his agreement with what I had just said. Again, it is an obvious and often overlooked point - don't ask people to risk their roles and positions without some assurances that the work they'll do will be valued and rewarded by the company.

"Let's look also at culture. For the last decade most firms have focused on Seven Schema, Lean and operational excellence. That means an emphasis within most firms on cost cutting, consistency and elimination of variance and risk. So the cultures have become hardened to asking questions about different or innovative ways of doing things. Innovation by its very nature introduces risk, variance and uncertainty. So over the last ten years most firms have created cultural roadblocks to innovation, reinforced by training and compensation structures. Most of the firms we work with show evidence of this. The corporate cultures reject 'new' ideas or anything that introduces significant change. Consistency is rewarded, change, especially disruptive change, is avoided. So where does disruptive change come from? Third parties, firms that enter the market from another space, or start ups that have little investment in the status quo. Most real disruptions are forced on an industry from the outside, rather than created from within. Look at music distribution. A few years ago, if I had predicted that Apple would be one of the largest music distributors, you would have laughed at me. Now it seems obvious, and Tower Records and the other distributors who distributed physical media are on the ropes. Why? Their corporate cultures blinded them to the obvious fact - consumers were demanding greater ease of use and interactivity with their music."

I glanced at my watch. I'd hit many of the big issues I wanted to cover, but I needed to bring the message home with a few closing remarks. There didn't seem to be a groundswell yet for the bum's rush, so I decided to move on to my closing remarks.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Seventeen

2009-05-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

The room was quiet and expectant, like a bunch of nervous new fathers waiting for the nurse to announce the birth of a new baby. They were also tired, distracted and thinking about the issues and challenges that had been raised during the day, and eager for the day to end so they could return to their email and phone calls. All that stood in the way of that was me.

I felt it was important to establish my bona fides, so I started with a brief overview of the firms we had worked with, especially the Fortune 500 types that I knew most would readily recognize. As I walked through some different case studies and the work we'd done and successes we'd had, I could see several of the attendees paying more attention.

Then, I threw them a curve ball. I asked them for a definition of innovation. A few seemed curious, the rest a bit puzzled. One gentleman near the back of the room volunteered "Something new or different".

I agreed. "Innovation is usually something new or different. Are there other definitions or descriptions you'd offer?"

Another offered "Generating ideas about new products".

"Yes" I said "That is also part of a definition about innovation".

There were several other statements or partial definitions of innovation.

"Are you satisfied with the definitions we generated? If it's this difficult or uncertain for the management team, how can Accipiter be successful at innovation if we can't clearly define what it is?"

I continued.

"We define innovation as 'people putting ideas into valuable action'. Note what this says. People - that is, you and your employees, generating ideas and converting those ideas into new products and services. It's not enough to be 'creative' - to just generate ideas. Those ideas have to be evaluated and prioritized and implemented for the benefit of your customers or for Accipiter."

Some more heads were nodding, some seemed even more skeptical.

"We work with management teams to create clarity about your purpose, goals and intent around innovation" I said "because it's one of the most important functions in your business, yet poorly defined and very risky, since it introduces change and risk. Without clear communications and a well-defined goal, most of your employees can't or won't work on innovation effectively."

Now the fish were beginning to rise to the bait.

"OK, I understand your perspective on the definition" a woman near the front said. "How do we at Accipiter create a definition that helps the employee population innovate, and communicate to them the issues and challenges that we believe are important? We have a suggestion box and we do receive ideas, but most of them are fairly useless and don't align to our needs or goals."

Well, she'd done it. Waved the red flag at the bull. Talked about an undirected suggestion box as if that was the beginning and end of an innovation program.

"That's great insight--I'm sorry I don't know your name."

"Teresa Smith"

"Teresa, your comment is on the mark and is indicative of what we see in many firms. Often we as management teams ask our employees for their ideas - which they are more than happy to provide. However, we don't ask for ideas in specific areas where we as the management team need ideas most desparately, and we often aren't clear about where we need their ideas the most. A definition of innovation can help, but so can using what we call directed ideation. Rather than an open suggestion box, we advise, and our clients can attest to this, that a directed ideation - idea campaigns where you ask for ideas to solve a specific problem or address a specific challenge, are much more effective. You know the most common sound right after an idea is submitted to an open suggestion box?"

"No"

"Sounds a lot like a shredder" Got some laughs. "The reason is that with an open suggestion box anyone can submit any idea, and they will. But when your team looks at those ideas, it doesn't usually find much of value, since you haven't provided guidance as to which ideas are most important to you."

More heads were nodding, but I was losing valuable time. 15 minutes into a 45 minute pitch and I hadn't even talked about the commitments the management team would need to make.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Sixteen

2009-05-19T05:16:00.000-07:00

Halfway through a Chandler classic I was interrupted by the sound of a meeting breaking up. Chairs shifting, voices murmuring. The doors to the conference room burst open and a flood of people exited, cell phones pressed tightly to their ears, giving me the distracted once over before hurrying off down the corridor to conduct their private seances with disembodied voices over the cell phone.

Bill Thompson emerged, talking with Fred Phillips and another executive. Thompson caught my eye, acknowledged my presence with a nod and continued talking with Phillips. I waited patiently for Thompson and Phillips to finish. A younger executive, noticing Thompson acknowledge me walked over.

"Mr. Marlow?"

"Yes, I'm Marlow."

"Bill asked me to help you set up for your presentation to the executive team. Could you follow me please."

I stuffed Chandler and his hardboiled detectives into my bag and followed young Mr. Executive into the boardroom of the Excelsior. This room was the size and shape of a squash court, long and narrow with high ceilings and a bank of windows overlooking the valley. I've seen the seniors at the rec center play shuffleboard on platforms far smaller than the conference table, which gleamed dully from the waxing and polishing, barely visible underneath the folders, water bottles and coffee mugs left as detritus from the recently adjourned meeting.

"If you need a projector I'd recommend connecting here" young Mr. Executive suggested. "The screen is to your right, and if you care to we can offer you a lavaliere mic."

"No thanks" I said. There were only 25 people in the room. I was fairly confident I could project for them to hear. I started up my laptop and jacked into the LCD projector. While I waited for the interminable boot process, I pulled out my notes to review my previous conversations with the Accipiter team.

"The break should wrap up in five minutes or so. I'll introduce you to the rest of the team, and then you'll have 45 minutes for your presentation. I'll give you a signal when you have five minutes left before we'll need you to end."

"What's the signal" I said, certain it would be a slashing move across the throat, reminiscent of my chances of winning work with Accipiter. Or so it seemed.

"I have a small sign in the back of the room. I'll raise it with 10 minutes left and with 5 minutes left to go."

"What happens if Thompson or another executive wants to extend my presentation?"

"I doubt that will happen."

It's never failed before I thought, but I left him to his own considerations. With the PC finally warmed up and convinced I am who I say I am, I started my presentation and prepared my notes. Executives were filtering back into the room. Phillips caught my eye and nodded. Briggs entered, glanced in my direction and scurried toward the other end of the table. Curious - did he not want to be associated with innovation, or was he worried about seeming overly interested in innovation? Typically any HR initiative is looked at with suspicion by the rest of most management teams. Perhaps he was concerned about appearing overly interested.

Mr. Young Executive, who I later learned was named Hank, hurried out into the hallway and with the care and urgency possible only when a young executive is herding older and senior executives into the final section of an all day offsite, he managed to get the vast majority in the room in just a few minutes.

He took the podium and said "We'll conclude our meeting today with a brief presentation on innovation by Marlow Innovation. We're pleased today to have Sam Marlow, the founder of Marlow Innovation, here with us to provide an overview of innovation and what that could mean for Accipiter. Mr. Marlow has over ten years of innovation experience, working with a number of Fortune 500 firms in a wide array of industries. I hope you'll give a warm welcome to Sam Marlow and give him your full attention."

He nodded and left the podium to me.

"Thank you for the introduction" I said.

"I was asked to come and speak with you about innovation" I began. "For the next 45 minutes or so, I'll be challenging your assumptions about innovation and educating you on what we believe - no, what we know - is the difference between successful innovators and firms that aren't successful."

Pulp Innovation Chapter Fifteen

2009-05-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

I arrived early at the Excelsior that day. I'd received a summons to present on innovation topics two weeks earlier, and had submitted a draft of my standard management presentation over ten days ago. There'd been no response or questions on the draft, and I was prepared to present it now.

The reception area of the hotel, which could have easily held a tennis court and spectator gallery, was bustling with doormen, clerks, a concierge and a number of other hotel flunkies. I sidled up to the concierge and asked for directions to the Accipiter meeting. He looked at me with poorly concealed surprise, as if I was a slightly lower life form than he expected from individuals working for or associated with Accipiter. I almost felt I should apologize for my slightly wrinkled suit, which I thought held up rather nicely after spending the last few weeks crumpled in the corner of my closet.

"Accipiter is meeting in the North Wing. The executive team is meeting in the Stanton conference room. That's the North wing, second floor. I believe they have a table set up just outside of the conference room." I couldn't tell if he were happier to have me out of the reception area, or somewhat apprehensive that he was sending an impostor off to meet an important client.

I felt the Stanton conference room particularly appropriate. Tom Stanton had been a non-descript governor in the previous century who's most notable accomplishments apparently had been to ignore all signs of progress and innovation. He'd ignored the demands for new waterways and canals and had blocked the development of new rail corridors. Stanton had been the classic one term governor who accomplished little, and it was reflected by the fact he was remembered only in hotel conference rooms.

The carpet was soft and hushed under my feet, like walking in soft sand at the beach. I turned into the elevator and was surprised to recall the final anachronism - an elevator operator. "Which floor please".

"Second floor". I tried to think of a witty excuse for riding an elevator one floor, or to query him about his future job prospects, but nothing interesting popped into my mind."

"Second floor" he said and I exited right, to the north, and saw ahead of me a host of junior executives working crisply and frantically. A small table off to the left with an attractive blond halted me in my tracks.

"Welcome to the Accipiter Executive offsite" she said. "How may I help you?"

I had already spotted my name tag on the table in front of her.

"Marlow" I said, pointing at the name tag "I'm the speaker at 3pm for the executive team."

She glanced at me quizzically, as if uncertain of my parentage, my reasons for existence or my truthfulness, or perhaps all three. She glanced over her shoulder and called for John Briggs.

Briggs, who'd been one of the busy executives in the hall, looked up and rushed over.

"Mr. Marlow" he said. "Glad you could come today. This is a bit embarrassing but the meeting is running slightly behind schedule. Could I ask you to wait for another 20 to 30 minutes for your presentation? Can I offer you some water?"

"A coffee would be appreciated" I said.

Briggs turned and eyed the youngest, most junior executive in the hall, and called him over. His new task in his management journey was to make a simple innovation consultant happy by delivering a hot, black coffee with real sugar, not that artificial stuff. He took the news with a straight face and left to find my coffee.

"Many of us on the management team are glad you are here and that there will be an open discussion on innovation today. I'm looking forward to hearing your presentation."

"Thanks, I think you'll enjoy it. I'll spend a significant portion of my time on the cultural impacts necessary for success when building an innovation capability."

He seemed both pleased and worried by that statement.

"Understand" he said, beckoning me into a small conference room "that some of the management team doesn't understand the importance or urgency for innovation here at Accipiter. There may be some resistance to your presentation or difficult questions."

"Nothing we don't see every time we talk to executive teams" I said. "When firms decide to innovate, you can always find out where the fault lines lie in the business, and which people believe they have turf to protect. Anyway, a project like this is always competing for limited funds that other executives would prefer to be spent on their projects."

He nodded. "None of the other projects is as important as innovation to me."

Briggs, and the entire HR and Talent Management team, were behind innovation, he told me. They saw it not as an immediate opportunity for HR, but as a program that would have many positive secondary benefits. "Firms that are more innovative are more exciting, and it's generally easier to recruit new candidates to a firm that has a reputation for innovation. Also, I think it will be easier to retain people if we are more innovative" he said.

I agreed with him but noted those changes could take two or three years to manifest, even in a successful innovation program.

He left to check on the status of the meeting and returned with my coffee and an update on the agenda.

"Bill let me know they are still about 30 minutes behind schedule. The team is going to reduce a break that's planned at 3:30 and have you start just then. They can now only spare 45 minutes, given the slip in the schedule."

I had expected as much. In over ten years of speaking to management teams, I'd rarely seen a meeting stick to the agenda. Knowing I was one of the last speakers for the day today, I'd already prepared myself for a shortened time slot.

"No problem" I said, pulling a Raymond Chandler from my briefcase. "I'll be here when they are ready. I suppose my presentation has been loaded on the computer?"

Briggs went off to confirm, and I opened a collection of short stories from Chandler.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Fourteen

2009-05-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

A week or two passed with no word from Thompson, Phillips or Johansen. I was ready to write off the Accipiter opportunity and start working with Matt on a new client when Susan Johansen dragged me back into the Accipiter melee.

“Sam” she said “Bill thinks it’s important for the rest of the management team to have a presentation on innovation. He wants to educate them on the effort, the costs and the opportunity. We wanted to know if you or Matt would join us for a management meeting next week to present some of the best practices for innovation.”
I had nothing to lose, I felt, so I asked the usual questions. Where is the meeting? What content is expected? What are the likely outcomes if the management team likes what they hear? Susan wasn’t sure what the ultimate decision process was, but felt that Bill could provide more insights. We scheduled a call with Bill later that day.

I pulled some client files and reviewed presentations we’d done to other management teams. This was a typical approach, to introduce an innovation initiative or program and educate the executive team. It was one way to gain consensus or to flush out opposition, and to set expectations very quickly. I thought what Thompson was trying to do was to get a sense of the support or opposition to an innovation program. If there was a lot of opposition or concerns expressed, he could claim that the meeting was exploratory and clearly there was not enough need for an investment in innovation now. On the other hand, if there was little opposition, Thompson might push for a project to move forward quickly. No use, I thought, in leading them down the primrose path. I pulled the standard “educating your management team about innovation” deck from the folder and prepared.
At some point in any innovation program, we’ve been asked to do this. Unlike a lot of other initiatives, innovation attracts onlookers, interested bystanders and turf protectors the way an accident on the side of the road attracts rubberneckers. Anyone who feels compelled to start an innovation initiative is led to educate the others around him or her, mostly to defend against invading someone else’s turf. Anyone not involved wants to watch what could be a spectacular, slow motion train wreck or a great success, and be able to say in either case “I saw it coming from the start”.

Our standard management education slide deck was built in three parts: defining innovation and building a rationale for innovation, explaining the “best practices” and outlining the resources and investments required. We didn’t short-sell the effort. We believed the executive team’s needed to know the kinds of decisions, investments and changes that were necessary to create a real capability for innovation in most businesses, starting with senior management involvement and cultural change.

The phone rang promptly at 3pm.

“Marlow” I said.

“Sam, this is Susan Johansen from Accipiter. I have Bill Thompson with me.”

“Hello Susan. Hello Bill. How can I help you?”

“Sam, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. As Susan has informed you, I’ve decided to include a discussion on innovation in an executive offsite next week. We are meeting at the Excelsior Hotel most of the day, and I’ve included a section on innovation. We’d like to invite you to speak about innovation, to help educate the rest of the executive team. Would you be able to present to us from 3 to 4 next Thursday?”

The Excelsior hotel was the largest and the most elegant of the old hotels in town, with a courteous staff and deep, quiet conference rooms with a hushed sense of dignity. Everything about the Excelsior spoke of old money, old ideas and old ways of thinking. Innovation consultants in cheap suits with radical ideas were rarely seen to darken its doors, although I had spent some considerable time in the Distillery, the bar off the main lobby. It’s primary attraction was a long, dark mahogany bar with a real sense of Scotch.

“Bill, I’d be happy to speak with your team about innovation. We’ve done similar presentations for a number of our customers and prospects. What is the main message you want to convey in the meeting?”

“Sam” he said, taking on the stentorial voice of a senator or congressman on the hustings “we need to help the rest of the executive team understand why innovation is so important, and how we at Accipiter can gain differentiation and increased organic growth using innovation as one of our tools. As you’ve probably guessed, while our CEO wants innovation, there are a number of opinions on innovation and whether or not that’s the right focus and investment right now.”

At this point Johansen jumped in. “Sam, I’ll be arranging Bill’s presentation that is just ahead of yours. Bill’s going to report on the quarter that’s just ended and identify some opportunities, and some real competitive threats that we see on the horizon. We hope to use our results from the last quarter to build some consensus for change, and have you speak about what we could expect from an innovation program.”

“I have a standard set of slides that we use when we talk to executive teams about innovation. Perhaps I should send them over to you for review. Our approach is to introduce the concept of innovation as a sustainable capability, talk about the issues and investments, and outline some of the changes necessary. We don’t pull any punches.”

“Send it over” said Bill. “I’d like to review it and provide you with comments. You’ll only have an hour, so please consider that timeframe and our need to educate the executive team.”

“What’s your ‘end goal’ for this presentation?” I asked. “Are you trying to get approval to move ahead or identify concerns or issues that must be addressed?

“I have the CEO asking for more innovation, and a peer group that has a number of perspectives about innovation. We need to reach some sort of consensus on the timing of an innovation project and the investment we’re willing to make. Also, there are a number of vested interests that will need to be placated or at least addressed. I want to use this discussion as a means to get my peers talking about innovation and expressing their concerns. With that accomplished, we hope to define a way forward, or make the decision to place this on the back burner.”

I told him I understood and concurred, not that my opinion seemed to mean much. We negotiated a small speaking fee for my preparation and my time with them and I made plans to revise the presentation and send it via a courier to his office the next day. With luck I’d have his comments back by Tuesday, and a day or so to prepare for the presentation, which would either create a nice new opportunity for Marlow Innovation, or prove an exercise in gum flapping.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Thirteen

2009-05-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

The call, when it came, was both what I expected and what I feared. It came, not from Thompson but from Phillips. Phillips called not to suggest we move forward on an innovation project, but wanting to know more about idea management software.

"Marlow" I answered as Jane patched the call into my office.

"Mr. Marlow, Fred Phillips. We met in the discussion we had on innovation here in Accipiter's offices."

"Yes, Fred. How are you today?"

"I'm fine. I hope you are the same."

Not really. Not when you are expecting a call from the big dog and the guy at the end of the call you eventually receive seems the least interested in what you have to offer. I thought that Matt had probably been right, that Accipiter wasn't in enough trouble yet to recognize they needed us.

"I'm doing well" I said, choking down the last dregs of my day old coffee and shoving the still smoldering butt of a cigarette into the ashtray. Those actions seemed to make my statement somewhat true, if only momentarily.

"I've called you today to talk with you about a particular interest of mine in regards to innovation" Phillips said. "I'd like to know what you know about idea management software."

My stomach, which was already complaining about day old, cold coffee, lurched and I shifted quickly in my seat. So this was the call I had feared, the distraction that could take weeks to recover from.

"Fred" I said "in our business we've worked with a lot of innovative firms, and many of them have used idea management software effectively. However, I think it best to set the expectation with you that most of the firms that have been successful with idea management software have a fairly robust innovation process, and a committed team. I'm not sure that's yet the case at Accipiter, and you may be putting the cart before the horse, so to speak."

In fact if Accipiter started down the software path in the state they were in currently, I'd predict a significant project ending in a perfectly functional idea management software application that no one understood how to use or why to use. The team would generate a few ideas and then watch them carefully, waiting for the idea management software to work its magic. After a few months of little or no activity, the software would be abandoned, not because the software failed, but because there was no sustaining process around the software, no trained teams, no coordination. After a few months the management team would declare that innovation had been a failure, and the firm would double down on Seven Schema to recover from the distraction.

Fred harrumphed at me. "We're simply interested" he said. "All the news about Tyndale points to their use of an idea management solution. If they've been successful using software, then we need to investigate it as well."

"Fred, as I said earlier, we advocate the use of idea management software, but only once a few conditions are met. First, that you have a methodology or process to manage the ideas. Second, that you have clear innovation initiatives and goals established. Third, that you have people who have clear responsibilities for innovation and for the software. Fourth, that you either have a lot of people involved, or a lot of ideas to manage. If these factors are in place, idea management software can be very valuable. If you put the software in place before these other conditions are met, well, we've seen that play before and it doesn't end well."

"Are there a few firms you'd recommend we look at?" he said, not willing to let it go.

"Absolutely" I said and gave him the name of a few firms we thought were both credible and understood the alignment between innovation process and governance and idea management software. However, I feared the worst. Many of these applications are relatively easy to implement and use, and the vendors have great demos. If Accipiter did purchase and try to use idea management software given the lack of corporate commitment, there would be little chance of success. It was akin to watching a person self-immolate, knowing that neither your words nor your actions would matter.

"Fred" I said "If you decide to review these applications, please consider the need for a process to manage the idea generation and idea evaluation, and the people who will be necessary to support both the innovation process and software. Susan Johansen won't be able to do that alone."

Fred seemed oddly pleased with himself as he responded.

"I'm not sure Johansen will be involved in this part of the innovation effort" he said. "Thanks for your time, Mr. Marlow."

"Don't mention it" I said as I hung up the phone. No longer lurching, my stomach had subsided into a dull ache. I walked over to the board where we track our opportunities and marked Accipiter as now 10% probable, with a decision timeframe two to three months out. If Phillips pursued this, on his own or with the blessing of Thompson, Accipiter would be distracted from the real work of innovation for at least two or three months, and at worst would consider innovation a failure within six months.

Matt watched me with that I-told-you-so look in his eyes. "Off the bandwagon and on to idea management software as the solution are they?" he said.

"No good deeds go unpunished" I said.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Twelve

2009-05-11T05:20:00.000-07:00

A week or so past with no word from Accipiter. Our client at Beletine, Jay Harding, called and was happy to speak to a prospect for us.

"Sam, the work your team did has been very helpful. I think we are turning the corner and will have the opportunity to embed innovation as a core skill. We've moved from thinking of innovation as a last resort to thinking about it as a consistent tool or technique."

"Jay, I'm glad to hear that. And thanks for your willingness to speak to a prospect for us."

"No problem. Let me know when you get something set up."

"Well Jay, you'll remember what it's like to make this decision and selection. It could be a few days or a few weeks before we hear back."

"There's got to be a burning platform, no doubt. It took several weeks just to schedule a meeting with our CEO. But once the conditions were right, we were able to move quickly."

"I hope the same is true of our prospect. I'll call you as soon as I hear anything from them, and thanks again for your willingness to speak with them."

"Happy to do it Sam. Talk with you soon."

Nothing fills an innovation consultant's heart with joy than hearing from a client who is actually implementing the programs we worked on together, especially when those programs are succeeding. Jay had been a tough sell at first - more like Fred than Susan at Accipiter - but once he understood we were focused on the team's success and wanted to help Beletine become more innovative, rather than simply override the existing processes, he came on board as an enthusiastic supporter, and someone with the right connections to get things done.

I still believed that Susan Johansen had the enthusiasm, but I remained convinced that Bill Thompson was going to be the key decision maker at Accipiter. We had followed the strategy that Matt and I had defined - keeping Johansen informed about our capabilities and interest, and providing Briggs with insights into the impact that innovation could have on employee engagement and recruiting. They had both been receptive and apologetic. "I can't tell you how Bill is going to make this decision" said Johansen, telling me in that one sentence all I needed to know about how the decision would get made. "I've continued to document the need for innovation, and I know John Briggs is behind this as well."

"Where do you think Fred Phillips comes down on this innovation program?" I asked.

"Fred is a long timer and is sold out on the Seven Schema program. However, I think he recognizes the need for a more innovative culture and approach. He may support something as long as it does not distract too much from his pet programs."

"And Bill Thompson?"

"I can't say with any certainty. Bill definitely is concerned about Tyndale and our competitive position, but I don't know how he'll react. Bill is from Finance, and has worked his way up the organization managing costs and implementing programs to control spending. He likes easily defined programs that can be executed quickly, with little investment if possible."

"That's fairly contrary to a successful innovation program" I said.

"Yes" she said "do you think you can create a short term highly disruptive product or service that is relatively inexpensive to build and deploy?"

I felt the sarcasm in her voice like a knife in the belly. Fortunately I was meant to share in this insight rather than receive the blow.

"From our experience" I said "every executive wants a "quick win". What we need to do is design a program such that Bill gets a reasonably valid quick win but agrees not to stop there."

As promised I called Bill in a week, and received no answer. I wasn't surprised. Bill was going to talk to a wide range of options to assist Accipiter with an innovation program, and in my experience innovation often took a back seat to other pressing issues. I made a note to call Bill in a week or so to reconnect, and mailed Fred an article on Xytin Corporation, which had a thriving innovation program aligned with a successful Seven Schema program, hoping he'd take the bait and give me a call.

The rest of the week I was committed to another client, reviewing long term trends in several sectors of the economy to prepare a scenario planning workshop to forecast some alternative perspectives about the future of the medical device market in 5 to 7 years. We'd made some great progress and had identified a number of opportunities for investigation. Matt was leading an ideation session for a new client, and we both had to balance existing client work with the opportunities presented by Accipiter, and the work necessary to win them as a client.

As far as Accipiter was concerned, time was on my side. Bill could only research and delay so long before the CEO and the board decided to intervene. I could only hope we'd presented the best solution for his innovation needs, and that there weren't any less than scrupulous firms offering a cheap quick fix.

Pulp Innovation Chapter Eleven

2009-05-06T05:54:00.001-07:00

We drove back to the office with the top down, savoring the warm breezes. I gave Matt a brief synopsis on my conversation with Johansen.

"She thinks innovation is very important, and I think she also sees opportunity for her own advancement as well. If she were higher up in the food chain, I'd be excited about the call, but since she clearly isn't the decision maker, I'm not sure how to use the information."

Matt seemed to take it all in and pondered it for a while as we drove.

"The real decision maker there is Thompson" he said. "Phillips won't be a barrier as long as we don't distract or disrupt the Seven Schema investment. We need to demonstrate that innovation is bigger and more valuable than Seven Schema, but that it can also co-exist."

Matt's words rang true. Clearly Briggs saw innovation as a way to increased employee engagement. Johansen was on board. If we could get Phillips behind the innovation effort, perhaps the three of them could join forces to convince Thompson to move ahead on a broad innovation program. We'd worked with several of our previous clients that had investments in Seven Schema to map out parallel activities - continuous change programs that resulted in Seven Schema implementations and larger disruptive programs that resulted in new products or services in an innovation program.

"Matt" I said "we need to introduce Phillips to our successful clients who have implemented innovation programs in conjunction with Seven Schema. I think that can make him more comfortable and an advocate for us."

Matt nodded, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere. While I'd be chained to a desk this afternoon, Matt was scheduled to lead a scenario planning exercise with another client. I envied him that task, and marveled at the insight available to any firm that engaged a serious scenario planning task. We'd been working with the client team for the last six weeks, identifying and tracking technical and demographic trends and competitive products and offerings. Today Matt would start the team on an investigation of these trends and develop several alternative scenarios of the future, which in turn would identify new markets and new opportunities that we could pursue with our client. We both enjoyed leading these scenario workshops because of the energy and enthusiasm they created in the project teams. Too often the participants had been treated as worker drones, whose ideas and thoughts about the future were ignored or discounted, and whose focus was the 90 day drumbeat. Having the opportunity to identify and track trends and develop scenarios was like a breath of fresh air for many of the participants, and they usually took after it with glee. As a facilitator, we had merely to guide and harness the energy of the group, rather than force an uncertain team into new processes and risky procedures.

We arrived at the office. Matt checked his phone messages and prepared to leave.

"Call Beletine Technologies and ask if Phillips can speak with them" he suggested. Belentine was a recent success, having taking on our full consulting program. We'd created an innovation team and program, and made some dramatic changes in the corporate culture, especially where rewards and compensation for innovation were concerned. And we done all that in an organization with a significant investment in Seven Schema.

"You're right" I said, picking up the phone to call our sponsor.

Matt waved and left. I left a message with the Beletine VP who had been our sponsor, asking if she would be willing to talk to Phillips. Then, I turned to the stack of papers on my desk. Calls to return, research to conduct, plans to complete. I would have rather been with Matt.

I made a note on my calendar to call Bill Thompson in a week, hoping I could bring Phillips on board and keep the fires lit with Johansen and Briggs. I pulled an article from a recent business management magazine about the importance of culture in an innovative organization, copied it and sent it to Briggs with my card.