The Rubbery Challenges of Innovation

I have recently started blogging for Harvard Business Review which is an exciting forum to be part of, and certainly I’m humbled to be in such esteemed company as John Hagel, Roger Martin, Michael Schrage, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and many others. The first installment looked at the benefits from not over-determining a product in an early-stage category, using the iPad as an example, and the second at the downsides of using skunk works to boost innovation.

The latest one just went up today and it looks at recent studies by IBM and McKinsey that illuminate two key challenges many organizations face when trying to manage innovation: creativity to come up with innovative ideas in the first place, and effectively implementing them so they reach the market in the manner originally envisioned.

“I remember a conversation with an engineer at a large company's future technologies lab describing what they did as "rubber meets the sky", as opposed to "rubber meets the road." The former is about coming up with creative new ideas, the latter about bringing them to the market. Both are needed, of course, and two recent reports shed light on the challenges that companies often still face when trying do both well.

Creativity in Leaders is Key

One is the latest bi-annual IBM CEO study which came out a few months ago. Based on interviews and surveys of over 1,500 CEOs from around the world, it focuses on the importance of creativity. In particular, creativity in leaders as they face ever more complex problems.

"The degree of difficulty CEOs anticipate, based on the swirl of complexity, has brought them to an inflection point," says IBM. "Asked to prioritize the three most important leadership qualities in the new economic environment, creativity was the one they selected more than any other choice."

Continue reading at HBR >

AVP of Marketing Strategy Adam Richardson is the author of Innovation X: Why a Company’s Toughest Problems are its Greatest Advantage. His book is the manual for leaders looking for clarity about the emerging challenges facing their businesses. You can follow Adam on Twitter @richardsona.