This article aims to offer executives specific guidance on how to tailor a successful innovation strategy to their individual company situation.
Based on Strategos' experience assisting clients in many industries to develop a core competence at innovation, the firm offers three practical guidelines.
The article finds that Strategos recommends: start with fresh perspectives; leave behind the old innovation paradigm by challenging three outdated assumptions that constrain innovation efforts; use “innovation architecture” to design your innovation program; map out what you need to do on the three critical dimensions of innovation – the “what”, the “who” and the “how.”; avoid seven pitfalls that can thwart the initiative; and learn from the experience of innovation pioneers as you implement your innovation program.
The article offers numerous case examples and step‐by‐step guidance.
The article identifies seven pitfalls and explains how to avoid them. These are: overly relying on customers to find solutions; generating ideas without new insights; assuming that innovation is about making a few “big bets”; failing to give innovators time, training and tools; confusing “involving many people” with “making it a free for all”; letting a systematic innovation process become bureaucratic; and failing to insist on sufficient involvement from the executive group.
Maps out what companies need to do on the three critical dimensions of innovation – the “what”, the “who” and the “how.”
