As published in Directorship.
Bright and glamourous on the outside, innovation is pretty messy on the inside. In spite of high profile news that makes it seem like most organizations are successful and even disruptive innovators, the reality is that only a fraction of innovation efforts ever reach the market. This article shows how innovation governance increases the rate of successful innovation.
Governance: The key to effecting successful Digital TransformationGuy Pearce
A deck I presented at McMaster University (DeGroote School of Business) on the multi-disciplinary complexity of achieving successful digital transformation
A combination of technology advances, evolving customer expectations, process evolutions (e.g., digitization), and new business models are forcing organizations to re-think their IT strategies in 2020. In the end, the decisions technology executives make can impact differentiation, growth and scale, profitability, customer satisfaction and speed-to-market. Here are some important facts to consider about digital transformation, and the core elements of success, when evaluating next steps.
Governance: The key to effecting successful Digital TransformationGuy Pearce
A deck I presented at McMaster University (DeGroote School of Business) on the multi-disciplinary complexity of achieving successful digital transformation
A combination of technology advances, evolving customer expectations, process evolutions (e.g., digitization), and new business models are forcing organizations to re-think their IT strategies in 2020. In the end, the decisions technology executives make can impact differentiation, growth and scale, profitability, customer satisfaction and speed-to-market. Here are some important facts to consider about digital transformation, and the core elements of success, when evaluating next steps.
The Post-Recession Call Center – The Focus, the Spend and the Opportunity After 18 months of a grim economy, companies are emerging from one of the most volatile business environments in recent history. Some are still feeling the pinch, while others are optimistic about what 2010 will bring. Regardless, companies are – for the first time in a long while – looking ahead, exiting survival mode and focusing on how they are going to gain a competitive advantage in a post-recession environment.
IoT: Powering the Future of Business and Improving Everyday LifeCognizant
New survey shows IoT at scale is a critical path, but many companies struggle to realize value. See how 10 companies are overcoming these challenges and succeeding in the new normal.
How will IT (and Business) plans and attitudes change post COVID-19David Terrar
These are my presentation slides from the 29 April Cloud Industry Forum Members meeting where I gave my viewpoint and triggered group discussion on the changes in business and use of technology triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was necessarily held as an online Teams meeting as we were 37 days in to the UK's lockdown. I discuss how digital transformation is being accelerated as firms are forced to have their knowledge workers working from home, often for the first time. Tools like Zoom and Teams have suddenly become mainstream and used daily and cloud technology underpins everything. Business is going through a fundamental change as people are forced to examine their business processes, shift online and work in new ways. The successful companies have the rigid open leadership, and think differently. We suggest Mutable Thinking, exponential thinking and different mindset is required for the "new normal". The presentation also uses some slides from Dion Hinchcliffe's Post-Pandemic Playbook, and some Tom Fishburne cartoons. There will be write up to accompany the slides on cloudindustryforum.org
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining FocusedCognizant
Changing market dynamics are propelling Asia-Pacific businesses to take a highly disciplined and focused approach to ensuring that their AI initiatives rapidly scale and quickly generate heightened business impact.
CEO Best Practices for Information Technology - Bruce McCullough, CIO AdvisoryBruce McCullough
I've been fortunate in my career to have direct exposure to successful CEOs through CIO consulting advisory, speaking to CEO peer groups such as Vistage and Renaissance Forums, participating in prestigious CEO summits, serving as a member of executive steering committees, as a certified corporate director and as a former member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
For most CEOs that have come up through the CFO and COO ranks, IT can be viewed as an overly complex, hard to understand cost only center. IT is incredibly complex to lead and technology continues to change at a dizzying pace. IT can sometimes be seen as an inhibitor and not a partner that drives innovation for top line results while improving processes and that positively impact the bottom line.
I've noticed some common IT management problems that occur for CEOs that can be easily addressed through the use of best practices. I can't cover all the best practices in this article but I can highlight some key observations based upon my experience reporting to and collaborating with CEOs.
- Bruce McCullough, CIO Advisory
Digitally mature organisations are more competitive. But how to get there? We help measure your digital maturity. Both quick wins and a structural approach result from it.
Please explore the presentation below for more detail, or reach out to one of the key contacts if you’d like to discuss how Venture Path could help your organisation innovate and grow.
The Road to Digital Maturity for Investment ManagersKurtosys Systems
Digital maturity is one way of gauging a company's level of success on their road to digital transformation; and there are many factors involved in assessing this. In this white paper we focus on five areas that, from our experience, play a vital role in theroad to digital maturity with investment managers in mind.
In this rapidly changing global business environment—where cost is a true strategic differentiator—Deloitte’s first global cost management survey report provides an inside look at the practices and trends currently shaping the future of business, with detailed insights from more than 1,000 C-level executives and senior management in four major regions: the United States (US), Latin America (LATAM), Europe (EU), and Asia Pacific (APAC). http://deloi.tt/2kUWuaw
Omni, Relignment, Cloud, Analytics, Big Data, Security etc should not remain just conversation points. The CIO strategy is, and should be continually up for renewal. The time is ripe for the CIO to lead innovation in a business and not trail the business by helping make just operations efficient.
Digital Transformation Drives 2021 IT Investmentsrun_frictionless
Digital transformation efforts continue to dominate the technology landscape as more IT leaders recognize the need to update hardware and software infrastructure to accelerate strategic products and services for the business. SoftwareTrends conducted a survey of some 1,020 IT executives, directors, and managers between August and November 2020 to better understand the current state of digital transformation efforts across companies of all sizes—and forecast the technology investment plans for 2021.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
The Post-Recession Call Center – The Focus, the Spend and the Opportunity After 18 months of a grim economy, companies are emerging from one of the most volatile business environments in recent history. Some are still feeling the pinch, while others are optimistic about what 2010 will bring. Regardless, companies are – for the first time in a long while – looking ahead, exiting survival mode and focusing on how they are going to gain a competitive advantage in a post-recession environment.
IoT: Powering the Future of Business and Improving Everyday LifeCognizant
New survey shows IoT at scale is a critical path, but many companies struggle to realize value. See how 10 companies are overcoming these challenges and succeeding in the new normal.
How will IT (and Business) plans and attitudes change post COVID-19David Terrar
These are my presentation slides from the 29 April Cloud Industry Forum Members meeting where I gave my viewpoint and triggered group discussion on the changes in business and use of technology triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was necessarily held as an online Teams meeting as we were 37 days in to the UK's lockdown. I discuss how digital transformation is being accelerated as firms are forced to have their knowledge workers working from home, often for the first time. Tools like Zoom and Teams have suddenly become mainstream and used daily and cloud technology underpins everything. Business is going through a fundamental change as people are forced to examine their business processes, shift online and work in new ways. The successful companies have the rigid open leadership, and think differently. We suggest Mutable Thinking, exponential thinking and different mindset is required for the "new normal". The presentation also uses some slides from Dion Hinchcliffe's Post-Pandemic Playbook, and some Tom Fishburne cartoons. There will be write up to accompany the slides on cloudindustryforum.org
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining FocusedCognizant
Changing market dynamics are propelling Asia-Pacific businesses to take a highly disciplined and focused approach to ensuring that their AI initiatives rapidly scale and quickly generate heightened business impact.
CEO Best Practices for Information Technology - Bruce McCullough, CIO AdvisoryBruce McCullough
I've been fortunate in my career to have direct exposure to successful CEOs through CIO consulting advisory, speaking to CEO peer groups such as Vistage and Renaissance Forums, participating in prestigious CEO summits, serving as a member of executive steering committees, as a certified corporate director and as a former member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
For most CEOs that have come up through the CFO and COO ranks, IT can be viewed as an overly complex, hard to understand cost only center. IT is incredibly complex to lead and technology continues to change at a dizzying pace. IT can sometimes be seen as an inhibitor and not a partner that drives innovation for top line results while improving processes and that positively impact the bottom line.
I've noticed some common IT management problems that occur for CEOs that can be easily addressed through the use of best practices. I can't cover all the best practices in this article but I can highlight some key observations based upon my experience reporting to and collaborating with CEOs.
- Bruce McCullough, CIO Advisory
Digitally mature organisations are more competitive. But how to get there? We help measure your digital maturity. Both quick wins and a structural approach result from it.
Please explore the presentation below for more detail, or reach out to one of the key contacts if you’d like to discuss how Venture Path could help your organisation innovate and grow.
The Road to Digital Maturity for Investment ManagersKurtosys Systems
Digital maturity is one way of gauging a company's level of success on their road to digital transformation; and there are many factors involved in assessing this. In this white paper we focus on five areas that, from our experience, play a vital role in theroad to digital maturity with investment managers in mind.
In this rapidly changing global business environment—where cost is a true strategic differentiator—Deloitte’s first global cost management survey report provides an inside look at the practices and trends currently shaping the future of business, with detailed insights from more than 1,000 C-level executives and senior management in four major regions: the United States (US), Latin America (LATAM), Europe (EU), and Asia Pacific (APAC). http://deloi.tt/2kUWuaw
Omni, Relignment, Cloud, Analytics, Big Data, Security etc should not remain just conversation points. The CIO strategy is, and should be continually up for renewal. The time is ripe for the CIO to lead innovation in a business and not trail the business by helping make just operations efficient.
Digital Transformation Drives 2021 IT Investmentsrun_frictionless
Digital transformation efforts continue to dominate the technology landscape as more IT leaders recognize the need to update hardware and software infrastructure to accelerate strategic products and services for the business. SoftwareTrends conducted a survey of some 1,020 IT executives, directors, and managers between August and November 2020 to better understand the current state of digital transformation efforts across companies of all sizes—and forecast the technology investment plans for 2021.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Driving Repeatable Business Innovation: The Vision to Action LifecycleMindjet
The current generation of Social Business tools has missed
a huge opportunity to impact business innovation and
results. By focusing on functionality that emphasizes
communications, they’ve omitted the required structure
and process needed to meaningfully affect the business.
In this presentation, we take you through the Vision to Action Lifecycle, and explain why a holistic approach to innovation can create repeatable, tangible results for your business.
How to hire a CINO that can build lasting innovation capabilities.
The way businesses need to organize and behave has fundamentally shifted. Across industries, companies, and organizational functions, we have heard many of the world’s most innovative companies echo the same challenge: businesses must urgently embrace a more nimble and entrepreneurial approach in order to stay competitive. We call this challenge of how big companies can leverage scale while staying innovative “big entrepreneurship.” The Rising Billion is one of five pieces in our report, Big Entrepreneurship, aimed at deconstructing some of the complex challenges around big entrepreneurship and provide actionable insights for business leaders.
This report was created by Fahrenheit 212, a global innovation strategy and design firm. We define innovation strategies and develop new products, services, and experiences that create sustainable, profitable growth for our clients. We challenge the belief that innovation is inherently unreliable and have spent the last decade designing the method, building the model, and assembling the minds to make innovation a predictable driver of growth for our clients' businesses.
Creating the Conditions for Sustainable Innovation The Leadership Imperative ...Meghan Daily
Organizations need innovation to survive and thrive. Thus, they need leaders who excel at driving innovation. But many leaders fall short when it comes to fostering ideas. This report doesn’t question if leaders themselves will be the source of your next great idea. Rather, when that idea arises—from a team member, a customer, or some other source—will leaders be able to foster it an bring it to fruition?
Over the past few years, DDI has worked with the LUMA Institute to teach leaders to foster innovation. We found to be effective, leaders must:
Inspire Curiosity
Challenge Current Perspectives
Create Freedom
Drive Discipline.
People — Not Just Machines — Will Power Digital InnovationCognizant
As new technologies cause value chains to rapidly evolve and organizational boundaries to blur, human roles and tasks are also digitizing, as machines alter how knowledge work is performed.
Are you a Digital Transformation leader? Can you create a high-performance strategy in the digital age? Have you got what it takes to avoid the tumbling barrels of distracting digital tactics, over hyped technology or the belief that your market is immune to disruption? Have you allocated the right resources to deliver a focused plan of transformation?
With a fundamental shift in the CFO mission, the finance function has become a critical change agent across organizations. The role of financial leaders such as CFOs is evolving, from a traditional financial controller, to one that drives performance improvements across the organization.
We’ve worked with Executives and IT leaders for over 30 years, and the single most common complaint we hear from them is their profound frustration with the lack of results and transparency from their never-ending IT investments.
To add further complexity, the demand for digital products and services has made it increasingly difficult for organizations to make ongoing investments and balance the need for innovation with optimization.
The latest data, combined from global enterprises, big consulting and research firms, makes the case that companies need to urgently act to address the digital disruption of their business and their related skills gaps. The data shows that 70% of digital business initiatives are likely to fail to deliver business growth, due to lack of business process and product innovation, as well as poor organizational adaptability.
Poor governance and legacy product management processes to align business and IT initiatives, coupled with insufficient leadership engagement across the organization, are the main reason most companies are wasting money on IT.
This thought paper speaks to these challenges and how optimizing both technology innovation and cross-organizational engagement will accelerate the positive business outcomes that organizations are looking to achieve especially in lieu of increasing digital disruption.
Authors - Alex Adamopoulos and Bob Kantor
The Innovation Game: Why & How Businesses are Investing in Innovation Centers Capgemini
With tech startups rapidly eating into traditional sectors, large organizations face an increased pressure to innovate. The challenge is that traditional innovation approaches are broken. A recent study revealed that only 5% of R&D staff feel highly motivated to innovate. In certain sectors, more than 85% of new products fail and an overwhelming 90% of companies consider they are too slow in launching new products and services.
The weaknesses of traditional innovation approaches have led some organizations to explore different avenues and seek new inspiration. These organizations have launched innovation centers in major technology hubs with the explicit mandate to accelerate digital innovations. These innovation centers, comprising teams of people and often physical sites, are established in a global tech hub. The goal is to leverage the ecosystem of startups, venture capitalists, accelerators, vendors, and academic institutions that these hubs provide.
We interviewed leaders of innovation centers and conducted an extensive research study of the 200 largest companies in the world to identify best practices and critical success factors.
Global technology hubs are the preferred destinations for setting up innovation centers. 60% of companies that have set up these centers have a presence in the Silicon Valley but many more hubs are emerging – the top 10 cities in our analysis represent only 33% of total innovation centers. The US had the largest share with 31% of total innovation centers closely followed by Europe at 30% & Asia at 22%. Penetration varies significantly between sectors; manufacturing is a clear leader at 58%, but despite facing increasing pressures from digital disruptions, Financial Services lags at only 28%.
Innovation centers offer a range of benefits. They:
• Accelerate the speed of innovation
• Provide a fresh source of ideas
• Enhance risk-taking ability
• Attract talent
• Drive employee engagement
• Build a culture of innovation.
It is extremely challenging to make a success of innovation centers. The long list of critical success factors is a testimony to the size of the challenge. These factors range from clarity on the role of the innovation center to governance for innovation implementation. For example, innovation centers should not peer so far out into the future that it becomes disconnected from current realities. But, it should not confine itself too closely to the parent’s current operations to make breakthrough innovation impossible.
The advent of thriving technology hubs has created an innovation ecosystem that traditional organizations can tap into. By combining the culture and approach of innovation centers with their budget firepower and access to markets and customers, traditional organizations have an excellent opportunity to re-energize their innovation capability.
Similar to Closing the gap between innovation intent and reality (corporate governance) (20)
Boosting Cybersecurity with Data Governance (peer reviewed)Guy Pearce
Data Governance has a significant role to play in information security, with special data classes beyond the regular four cyber classes (public, confidential, classified and restricted) being useful in helping the organization identify whether sensitive data was exposed in a breach.
My article published in the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors journal, Director, outlining why not only the CIO, but also the COO and CHRO have roles to play in effective cybersecurity leadership
Leading enterprise-scale big data business outcomesGuy Pearce
A talk specially prepared for McMaster University. There is more benefit to thinking about big data as a paradigm rather than as a technology, as it helps shape these projects in the context of resolving some of the enterprise's greatest challenges, including its competitive positioning. This approach integrates the operating model, the business model and the strategy in the solution, which improves the ability of the project to actually deliver its intended value. I support this position with a case study that created audited financial value for a major global bank.
Big data governance as a corporate governance imperativeGuy Pearce
Poor data governance impacts reputation risk by data breach, by privacy violations and by acting on poor quality data. Furthermore, there are some important differences in what data governance means for big data compared to data governance for operational data.
That poor data governance impacts reputation risk means it has considerable implications for the Board of Directors, for whom reputation risk is the number one risk according to Deloitte (2013).
This presentation targeting the Board of Directors and the C-Suite and presented at the National Data Governance and Privacy Congress in Calgary, Canada presented some reasons why data governance is critical, from the perspective of both the C-Suite and the Board of Directors.
(Also on YouTube at http://youtu.be/QR4KO3Yx0n4)
Creating $100 million from Big Data Analytics in BankingGuy Pearce
A sanitized version of our presentation to the Teradata Marketing Summit in Los Angeles in March 2014, on how we created $94.95 million in incremental value for a bank by means of a customer-centricity strategy enabled by Big Data and Analytics
The pressure is on marketing to quantify the benefits of the huge spend including brand) it incurs. It\'s not particularly difficult, although it is a fair amount of work. This presentation shows you how! Let me know if you need help!
Marketing Science Conference on the SME use of banking products, Vancouver 2008 Guy Pearce
Business banking transactional, credit and savings product acquisition sequences and rates of change. Presented at the Academy of Marketing Science, Vancouver, Canada, June 2008
Emerging Market SME Turnaround in a Recession: Theory and Practice. Cincinnat...Guy Pearce
A presentation on the academic context (high level literature review) for business turnaround made to the International Council of Small Business in the US on 27 Jun 2010
Senior Project and Engineering Leader Jim Smith.pdfJim Smith
I am a Project and Engineering Leader with extensive experience as a Business Operations Leader, Technical Project Manager, Engineering Manager and Operations Experience for Domestic and International companies such as Electrolux, Carrier, and Deutz. I have developed new products using Stage Gate development/MS Project/JIRA, for the pro-duction of Medical Equipment, Large Commercial Refrigeration Systems, Appliances, HVAC, and Diesel engines.
My experience includes:
Managed customized engineered refrigeration system projects with high voltage power panels from quote to ship, coordinating actions between electrical engineering, mechanical design and application engineering, purchasing, production, test, quality assurance and field installation. Managed projects $25k to $1M per project; 4-8 per month. (Hussmann refrigeration)
Successfully developed the $15-20M yearly corporate capital strategy for manufacturing, with the Executive Team and key stakeholders. Created project scope and specifications, business case, ROI, managed project plans with key personnel for nine consumer product manufacturing and distribution sites; to support the company’s strategic sales plan.
Over 15 years of experience managing and developing cost improvement projects with key Stakeholders, site Manufacturing Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Maintenance, and facility support personnel to optimize pro-duction operations, safety, EHS, and new product development. (BioLab, Deutz, Caire)
Experience working as a Technical Manager developing new products with chemical engineers and packaging engineers to enhance and reduce the cost of retail products. I have led the activities of multiple engineering groups with diverse backgrounds.
Great experience managing the product development of products which utilize complex electrical controls, high voltage power panels, product testing, and commissioning.
Created project scope, business case, ROI for multiple capital projects to support electrotechnical assembly and CPG goods. Identified project cost, risk, success criteria, and performed equipment qualifications. (Carrier, Electrolux, Biolab, Price, Hussmann)
Created detailed projects plans using MS Project, Gant charts in excel, and updated new product development in Jira for stakeholders and project team members including critical path.
Great knowledge of ISO9001, NFPA, OSHA regulations.
User level knowledge of MRP/SAP, MS Project, Powerpoint, Visio, Mastercontrol, JIRA, Power BI and Tableau.
I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to discussing this role with you, and how I can lead your company’s growth and profitability. I can be contacted via LinkedIn via phone or E Mail.
Jim Smith
678-993-7195
jimsmith30024@gmail.com
The Team Member and Guest Experience - Lead and Take Care of your restaurant team. They are the people closest to and delivering Hospitality to your paying Guests!
Make the call, and we can assist you.
408-784-7371
Foodservice Consulting + Design
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers new opportunities to radically reinvent the way we do business. This study explores how CEOs and top decision makers around the world are responding to the transformative potential of AI.
Oprah Winfrey: A Leader in Media, Philanthropy, and Empowerment | CIO Women M...CIOWomenMagazine
This person is none other than Oprah Winfrey, a highly influential figure whose impact extends beyond television. This article will delve into the remarkable life and lasting legacy of Oprah. Her story serves as a reminder of the importance of perseverance, compassion, and firm determination.
The case study discusses the potential of drone delivery and the challenges that need to be addressed before it becomes widespread.
Key takeaways:
Drone delivery is in its early stages: Amazon's trial in the UK demonstrates the potential for faster deliveries, but it's still limited by regulations and technology.
Regulations are a major hurdle: Safety concerns around drone collisions with airplanes and people have led to restrictions on flight height and location.
Other challenges exist: Who will use drone delivery the most? Is it cost-effective compared to traditional delivery trucks?
Discussion questions:
Managerial challenges: Integrating drones requires planning for new infrastructure, training staff, and navigating regulations. There are also marketing and recruitment considerations specific to this technology.
External forces vary by country: Regulations, consumer acceptance, and infrastructure all differ between countries.
Demographics matter: Younger generations might be more receptive to drone delivery, while older populations might have concerns.
Stakeholders for Amazon: Customers, regulators, aviation authorities, and competitors are all stakeholders. Regulators likely hold the greatest influence as they determine the feasibility of drone delivery.
Closing the gap between innovation intent and reality (corporate governance)
1. September/October 2018 NACDonline.org 43
Closing the Gap Between
Innovation Intent and Reality
Comparing the intent of corporate innovation with
reality shows what can be gained by better governance.
By Guy Pearce
Digital transformation is spurred by the
evolution of software in many industries.
Today, almost any modern electronic
device—your smartphone, home theater
system, even your car’s ignition system—
can be upgraded simply by refreshing or
updating it with new software.
Companies in the financial services sec-
tor in particular are taking advantage of the
latest software innovations to create a vast
array of technologies—colloquially known
as fintechs—to advance and stay on the
cutting edge. Bharat Masrani, CEO of TD
Bank, one of Canada’s top two banks by
assets with operations in the United States,
noted that “thousands of fintechs are vying
for bank customers,” indicating the scale of
the fintech threat to slow-moving banks.
Even software giants including such
household names as Facebook, Ama-
zon, and Alibaba risk sidelining banks,
according to David McKay, CEO of the
other of Canada’s top two banks by assets,
the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). In
In Practice response, Financial Times reports that
RBC aims to transform the bank into a
platform offering a diverse ecosystem of
end-to-end services.
The nature of the talent in platform
ecosystems can make competing with
them very difficult, as Microsoft Corp.
found in the early 2000s with Linux, a free
open-source operating system. Instead of
competing with them, Microsoft had by
2013 become one of the biggest contribu-
tors of code to Linux.
Bright and glamorous on the outside,
innovation is pretty messy on the inside.
In spite of high-profile results that make it
seem like most organizations are successful
and even disruptive innovators, the reality
is that only a fraction of innovation efforts
ever reach the market. Effective board
oversight of innovation, however, can be
a deciding factor in a company’s ability to
make innovation actionable.
Innovation Intent
“The financial services industry will see
more change in the next 10 years than
it has in the last 100,” remarked Anand
Sanwal, CEO of the research firm CB
Insights in 2017. “And that transformation
is being driven by a group of smart insur-
gent start-up companies.” In financial ser-
vices, the threats posed by software tech
giants and the growth of fintech have given
rise to a new generation of corporate inno-
vation hubs.
According to InnovationManagement,
a global online resource center for orga-
nizational innovation, the goals of these
hubs include “digital innovation, rethink-
ing customer experience, improving
operational efficiency, and testing new-
business models.” These goals are associ-
ated with the desire to stay competitive
(see chart, p. 44), but extend to growing
revenue and being better able to meet
customer expectations.
WILLIAMA.RENNJR./ILLUSTRATIONSOURCE
2. 44 NACD Directorship September/October 2018
In Practice Innovation
Innovation Reality
Many innovations fail to meet their often vague objectives, ulti-
mately becoming wasteful expenditures rather than delivering on
corporate expectations. This should concern the board. According
to a 2015 survey by MindMatters, innovation hubs have serious
shortcomings, specifically:
■■ Only 5 percent of workers in innovation programs with U.S.
firms feel highly motivated to innovate.
■■ 77 percent of workers in innovation programs claim that ideas
are poorly reviewed and analyzed.
■■ Less than a third of surveyed firms regularly measure or report
on innovation.
■■ More that 80 percent say that there are resource constraints
involved in bringing innovation to fruition.
The primary reason for these failures of innovation can be attrib-
uted to poor governance.
If an organization’s innovation activities are properly aligned
with its strategy, then issues two, three, and four should be elimi-
nated. That they’re not suggests another governance shortcoming:
strategic alignment. The closer innovation is aligned with the orga-
nization’s objectives and are integrated with the organization by
design, the greater the contribution of innovation to organizational
competitiveness and sustainability.
The emphasis here is on “by design.” If innovations are designed
as stand-alone initiatives that are not aligned with the organiza-
tion’s strategy, it can be nearly impossible to subsequently integrate
successful innovations into them. Sure, stand-alone innovations
can be spun off as start-ups, but this serves neither the sustainabil-
ity nor the competitiveness of the organization.
Effective oversight helps ensure that innovation hubs deliver
on their promise, not only in terms of their outcomes, but also in
terms of their operations. While realizing that there are different
types of innovation and that innovation is inherently messy, good
corporate governance requires answers to questions including what
kinds of problems the innovations hope to solve, and to what extent
the activities are aligned with the capabilities and culture of the
organization.
Appropriately articulating key business problems (why are we
innovating?) is a means of providing the board with the insight
necessary to determine measures of innovation success. Whether
innovation activities are successful or not is driven by dimensions
such as strategic alignment, the problem statement and business
case, organizational capabilities, and the extent to which success-
ful innovation outcomes can be integrated into the organization
and its culture.
Don’t underestimate culture as a potential roadblock to suc-
cessful innovation. For example, innovatively solving a business
problem using blockchain technology will not find traction in an
organization that still operates on faxes, printing calculators, and
old personal computer technology. Culture matters.
Corporate innovation hubs are therefore not a panacea for the
problem of corporate sustainability and competitiveness. So what
should boards do?
Create a supportive culture from the top. As noted, successful
innovation operationalization depends on the organization’s cul-
ture. In a 2015 Forbes article, contributor and venture capitalist
Henry Doss observed, “The most innovative product in the world
has little real value without the cultural ability to absorb, institu-
tionalize and deploy that product.” The tone at the top sets the
climate for innovation with respect to the oft-overlooked matters of
the organization’s appetite and tolerance for change. The less an
organization invites and accepts change, the less the chance of an
innovation program blossoming meaningfully.
Make the business case. In a 2015 Fortune article, “Why Most
Innovations Are Great Big Failures,” author Anne Fisher notes
that many innovations fail because the tough questions aren’t
asked at the outset. “Ideas are treated not as precious pearls to
be polished, but [rather] as sparks born of friction,” she writes,
because “exposing fledgling innovation ideas to the tough love
of tough questions … ensures those ideas can survive in the real
world of real companies placing real bets with real money.” Here,
tough love would be performed by means of tying innovation to
the business case.
Need to stay competitive
Need to increase
revenue
Wish to keep up with
customer expectations
Need for higher margins
Desire to access
untapped markets
57%
34%
41%
48%
54%
Companies are most likely to cite competition
factors as they account for changing R&D priorities.
What is driving the change in your company’s R&D mix?
Source: Strategy+Business
3. September/October 2018 NACDonline.org 45
The tough questions are aimed at understanding the context of
the innovation, as well as understanding the practicalities of oper-
ationalizing it. Poor innovation operationalization is a significant
stumbling block to bringing innovations to market; according to
Harvard Business Review, within three years of a CEO announcing
an innovation program, the venture will have failed due to poor
operationalization.
Oversee structure, process, and content. Innovation manage-
ment also refers to three specific components of good innovation
governance: content, process, and structure. Getting them right is
pivotal to successful innovation.
■■ Content. Qualify the reasons and objectives of the innova-
tion hub, define its area of focus as well as its intensity. Intensity is
important; e.g., if the expectation is for minimum viable products,
then the intensity and consequent funding demands are higher
than if the intensity objective was merely a proof of concept. A
given budget can support fewer high-intensity innovation projects
than it can innovation proofs of concept.
■■ Structure. The innovation hub should be figuratively far
enough removed from the day-to-day business, but not so far away
as to be out of touch with business reality. Determine who is ulti-
mately accountable for innovation as well as the responsibilities of
the innovation team, the level in the organization it reports into,
and the measures of success.
■■ Process. Ensure the existence of a common, repeatable inno-
vation process. Specify the nature, policies, and procedures associ-
ated with partnerships where applicable.
From the Trenches
After 10 instances of pragmatic digital innovation, I learned that
effective change management in driving the corporate adoption of
innovation needs to:
■■ articulate the imperative to change;
■■ incorporate stakeholder input as a means to drive adoption
by “pulling” rather than trying to “push” adoption into the orga-
nization;
■■ start at the beginning of the innovation project, not at the end;
and
■■ demand the personal time commitment from individuals
throughout the organization who are critical in effecting change.
The risk of poor or nonexistent change management can be at the
heart of the failure of even the most viable of corporate innovations.
Striving for Sustainable and Pragmatic Innovation
Innovation governance is a dilemma. Corporate innovation ini-
tiatives—all shiny on the outside—when left ungoverned can
fail catastrophically due to poor governance, closed within three
years or at the next round of corporate cost-cutting. The board
plays a key role in innovation success, reducing the risk of gover-
nance failures by focusing on three primary questions: why, what,
and how? “Why” and “what” focus on purpose, strategic align-
ment, and expected benefit, while “how” focuses on overseeing
operationalization.
Specifically, the board needs to
■■ set the tone at the top, ensuring alignment of the innovation
hub’s objectives with the organization’s strategic objectives;
■■ oversee innovation operationalization and change manage-
ment; and
■■ oversee innovation policy, process, resourcing, and content by
business case.
The gap between innovation intent and reality is also minimized
when corporate innovation is within the context of technological
advances and changes in customer preferences, and is a good fit for
the organization’s culture. The board thus has a major role to play
in ensuring that corporate innovation helps maintain the organiza-
tion’s relevance in its chosen markets.
Innovation governance ultimately increases the rate of success
of corporate innovation in the interests of corporate competitive-
ness and sustainability. In particular, innovation governance miti-
gates the risks of resource waste and hub failure, thereby increasing
the odds of achieving a return on innovation. That’s why there’s
everything to gain and nothing to lose by the better governance of
corporate innovation. D
Guy Pearce has served on boards in banking, financial services,
retail, and a nonprofit over the past decade, and as CEO of a
multinational retail credit business. His corporate digital innova-
tion experience spans 10 enterprises over the past 25 years in
industries as diverse as manufacturing, banking, energy, trans-
port, and insurance.
Good corporate governance requires
answers to questions including what
kinds of problems the innovations
hope to solve, and to what extent the
activities are aligned with the capabilities
and culture of the organization.