Why Talent Needs External Relationships

by Stefan Lindegaard

The May issue of Fast Company had an interesting column by Dan and Chip Heath. They looked into the thinking of Boris Groysberg, a Harvard Business School professor who is due with a new book, Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance.

In this book, Groysberg argues that talents and star performers – the case in the column focuses on Wall Street analysts – do not only rely solely on their own skills and capabilities, but also on resources made available to them inside their firms in order to make great things happen.

These Wall Street analysts were not as portable as expected. They could not just switch to another firm and perform as they used to since they are more dependent than...

Innovation leadership and culture: Observations from Johnson & Johnson

by Stefan Lindegaard

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Jeff Murphy over the last couple of months. Jeff is an executive director at Johnson & Johnson where he is working with improvement methodologies and business innovation.

At a meeting a couple of months ago, we got into a discussion on key leadership behaviors and decisions with regards to innovation leadership and culture. Jeff works with this at Johnson & Johnson and he has made the following observations on what business leaders who are seeking to improve their organization’s innovation capability and capacity should do.

They should:

• make innovation a TRUE business priority • encourage cross-functional collaboration on innovation. • make innovation part of everyone’s performance review. Recognize publically and  rewardappropriately. • view failures as learning opportunities. Celebrate...

The careers of innovation leaders and intrapreneurs

by Stefan Lindegaard

I have previously argued that companies need two kinds of people to make innovation initiatives successful. They need innovation leaders who focus on building the internal platform required to develop organizational innovation capabilities. This is work on the strategic and tactical level.

Innovation leaders are often also involved as coaches, facilitators and sponsors for the second group required for innovation; the intrapreneurs who turn ideas and research into real products and services that move the business forward.

For your information, intrapreneurship is defined as the practice of using entrepreneurial skills without taking on the risks or accountability associated with entrepreneurial activities i.e. starting your own business. Intrapreneurs are employees who behave as entrepreneurs, even though they have the resources and capabilities of the larger firm to draw...

Defeating the corporate antibodies

by Stefan Lindegaard

Change is frightening to many elements inside the typical organization. Change threatens people’s power, their status, their egos, and, in some situations, even their jobs. Change can make someone’s expertise obsolete and thereby make them obsolete as well. Because people are afraid of change, innovation efforts often cause the eruption of corporate antibodies that fight to kill innovation and maintain the status quo.

The factors that cause angst within a closed system of innovation may prove to be even more threatening when a company shifts toward open innovation. Executives and managers may feel they can control the degree of change and shape it to their own needs as long as everything is happening within the organization. But start to bring outside forces in and it’s a...

Six ways to make top executives understand innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

In my previous post, I argued that most top executives do not understand innovation. Check this link: Why top executives do not get innovation

It is a major challenge for an innovation leader to operate in an environment where the top executives don’t get innovation or – perhaps even worse – do understand it but are unwilling to fully embrace it because it means going against the board of director’s focus on short-term financial goals.

What can you do to thrive in such an environment? Based on my experiences, here are some methods to apply:

•  Challenge and stretch the mindset of the top executives. Innovation is a holistic activity that needs to be understood and embraced by everyone from the top to the bottom. For this reason, your...

Why top executives do not get innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Many innovation leaders struggle to get the support they need from executives higher up in the organization. Top executives can be skilled at talking the talk about innovation, especially in public venues, but frequently fail to walk the talk when it comes to making key choices that determine whether an innovation project will happen or die on the vine.

This may seem paradoxical because everyone knows that innovation is what drives business success in the 21st century, right? Well, sort of. While corporate leaders may intellectually accept the need for innovation and tout their commitment to innovation at every opportunity, they often fail to really “get” innovation and as a result, they become a major roadblock in your path to succeed as innovation leader.

In 2007, the...

How innovation can be a game of perception

by Stefan Lindegaard

I once did a workshop at a company trying to establish processes for innovation. This company is in much better shape than others as it is run by entrepreneurs who like spin-outs. This offers many opportunities for employees with the drive and capabilities needed for creating new ventures.

Nevertheless, their management team had spent much energy on one big question: How do we become an innovative company and how do we convince our employees that we can reach that goal? I invited them to turn this question around: What if it is not a question of becoming, but one of being? The company already had initiatives that would qualify it as being innovative so the foundation for this shift is in place. What should the next...