The Innovation Genome

So you are housed in an enterprise. You look and there is a digital revolution in-progress, outside. Today’s start-ups are disrupting yesterday’s established businesses. Disruption is moving exponentially. Mindsets are still linear bound. 

You want to open the door and let the fresh ideas flow in. That’s only natural. Everyone wants to be part of an exciting tomorrow.

So you jump right out. You read all the innovation books. You even go beyond your comfort zone and gobble up some of those innovation blogs out there. With fancy headings such as innovation genome! You keep going. You consult top minds. You shell out top dollars. Gurus hit you with innovation mantras from all directions.  

‘It is about changing the culture. It is not about setting up an innovation garage. It’s about embedding innovation into processes, into people. Give people 20% of their time and ask them to innovate. Include innovation as a competency. Setup a measurement framework around it. Give your workplace a cool look. Offer people free food. There is a strong correlation between good food and good ideas’.  And on and on and on the advice flows - free, unhindered, in waves, like a cool breeze on a hot, sultry day.

Yup, you get all this. Sure, that is where I want my enterprise to be, sans the free food bit. 

But of course. Hit the culture with the innovation bug. Sit back relax and enjoy the show. Innovation will become a way of life.  Transformation, second nature. Who would want anything different?

But hey, still quite foggy up there on the how? How to get to this nirvana stage. Change culture, sure. But how?

Life is probabilistic. Innovation too is not deterministic.

Give the following recipe a shot. Maybe the probabilities of success will fall in line for you.

First and foremost find someone super special to lead your innovation effort. The special bit in this deal is ‘passion’. The one and only competence.  A passion to experiment, to change, to challenge, to research, to connect, to deliver. Someone who loses the context of space and time when in the flow of innovation. Driven. Not by insipid mission statements. Nor enamored by marketing collateral. Driven by a deep inner sense of purpose. To experiment. To look for new ways. To discover new value for the enterprise. To disrupt existing norms. To leap into and beyond the exponential curve.

Don’t even start till you find this person. You need a pivot for innovation. To catapult it into the heart of your enterprise. You need someone special.

Once on board, your job is to clear the deck for him/her. There will be pain all around. The not invented here syndrome will bite from all directions. Escalations galore. Territorial scuds will land on your door steps every day. Summer will arrive early in your work life. Heat will emanate from all corners. Relax. Take meditation classes. Do Yoga. Take a walk. Go for a run. 

The agenda for innovation has been set. The magic has begun. Passion is like a magnate. It is already attracting and multiplying. You just be the shield for the leader and his/her ever growing network of peers. Provide the nurturing ground. For passion to sow the seeds of innovation. These seeds will grow and change the culture, organically.

There are a whole raft of other things you can promote. Create an ecosystem of partners. Find some funding. Recruit more staff. Create a garage to give innovation an identity. Create some governance. All crucially important. Sure, do these. But after the first two are in place. 

The key is finding a passionate innovation leader and then clearing the deck for him/her to operate. Those are the two stands of the innovation DNA. The powerful double helix. Once in place, these will rapidly replicate and before you know it, an innovation culture will cultivate in your enterprise. 

Fresh air will flow freely inside and within....