Innovation: Can You Make Your CEO Look Good?
I just read an interesting post titled What to Tell the CEO About Innovation by Roy Luebke.
Roy asks an interesting question: If you only had a few minutes to get the CEO’s attention about innovation, what would you say?
In his post, Roy gives some suggestions on what to tell the CEO. They are valid suggestions, but in my humble opinion they are also too general and too vague to really get the attention on this approach. Check the post and judge for yourself.
In a situation like this, I think you need to get the CEO to think about the role innovation could have as a tool to reach the company’s overall goals and objectives as stated in the long term strategy plan.
This makes the question to ask the CEO look like this: How can innovation – the process and its outcomes – help us reach our corporate goals – and thus make you look good in front of the board and the shareholders?
OK, the last part can be stated in a more subtle way, but we need to focus on how the CEO personally can benefit from the innovation efforts. This is especially important if he or she has not yet bought into the idea of innovation.
If you ask such a question to a CEO you need to be well prepared when he or she replies: Interesting. You’re right. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this?
This is where innovation executives and directors need to prove their value. A hint is that the answer will a combination of their general knowledge on innovation and their understanding of their company’s specific situation.
Hi Stefan, I agree that Roy's post is a start, and needs to go further. I suggest that the CEO needs to understand how a particular innovation will
– help the company meet its strategic objectives
– be good for the customer
– deliver x financial growth with <x investment
– build the brand equity of the company or its brands
CEOs generally are far from stupid, so a successful few minutes conversation will result in him/her telling you to go away and come back with a detailed proposal.
Kevin, your comments make sense for a particular innovation – as well as for an overall innovation approach which is what I had in mind in my blog post. I got to wonder whether you should focus on clear, measurable issues or focus on a bigger overview picture. I guest this depends on the type of CEO and the situation you are in.
Hi Stefan – generally I agree with both you and Kevin's points. Too often, innovation is used as a platitude – sounds great but really has no meaning.
Although the focus on a particular innovation can have short term benefit, my thought is that longer term gains will require both investment and commitment by the executive team over a period of time to make this transition. From this perspective, that timeline is key to expectations setting – it's not like a light switch that can be turned "on" at a whim.