Collaboration with other firms and customers: innovation’s secret weapon

Innovation is at the top of many CEO’s agendas. To increase the odds of success, leaders need to understand why they should collaborate with outsiders and how to do it effectively. There are two major benefits of engaging “outsiders”: they challenge company‐internal assumptions, and they bring a new body of knowledge to the party. The theory that external collaboration is linked to radical innovation is supported by recent research findings cited in the article. Innovation most often happens when some previously unconnected bodies of knowledge converge. So for companies that want to stretch the business boundaries and innovate around markets and business models, external collaboration with other firms and customers is critical. The author lays out practices that leaders can use to make collaboration work and pitfalls to avoid.