Here's how you can pivot to a business innovation role as a late career professional.

Transitioning to a business innovation role later in your career involves assessing transferable skills, continuous learning in innovation methodologies, networking with industry professionals, showcasing relevant experience, seeking internal or external opportunities, embracing agility, and effectively communicating your value proposition.

A skills assessment contributes to an effective transition to an innovative business role in a later career for the following reasons: 1) Identification of strengths and weaknesses for further improvement. 2) Developing a learning plan to develop the necessary skills. 3) Determining readiness for changes in the business environment. 4) Increasing professional value through the development of innovative skills. 5) Stimulating personal growth and readiness for new challenges. 6) Identifying potential for leadership development, which is important for innovative positions. It helps you focus on developing and reorienting to innovative roles in the business, making the most of your experience and abilities at a later stage of your career.

Experience gained over a long career period is very valuable in innovation management: it allows to rapidly assess the marketability of a new idea. To leverage this experience combined with domain expertise in different disciplines, the main skill to obtain is "structuring" and "knowing" what you know. It's easier said than done, but pulling know how out of the own head and structure it for others requires reflecting on the own self, when once having been in the position of learning and mastering new topics.

Es importante identificar los skills en los que se es el mejor y hacer analogias de puestos anteriores con la actual área de innovación Por ejemplo ser intermediario entre el equipo técnico y los clientes, moderar grupos que estén llevando a cabo un proyecto de innovación, entre otros.

Big picture thinkers who have a generalist background are great hires into innovation roles. Knowing enough to understand how all the pieces could fit together without being blinkered, naive enough not to write off a stupid idea straight away, and having the humility to bring in the experts to sort the details is a super power. Consider the diversity of your life experiences (work and private) to date and how you can apply them to a new role. What is unique about your background that means this business absolutely needs to have you on staff to secure your expertise and propel their innovation strategy forward.

Trends (specially in technology) often follow patterns that can be found in the past. However, the art is to make a transfer of the original idea and adapt it to today's context. By understanding also the go-to-market of technological shifts, trends can then be foreseen if there are a few conditions met: - can a technology shift be employed into a product that solves a problem with a critical mass? - if it's a niche: does the audience value a potentially higher price (for a missing initial scalability)?

Podrías seguir a cuentas clave de innovación y emprendimiento en tu Instagram, TikTok y LinkedIn. Así como unirte a comunidades locales de la rama tecnológica que más te interesen como Blockchain o Startups. En los grupos de estás comunidades o sus eventos suelen hablar y compartir las últimas tendencias de innovación de primera mano.

There is so much information available it's sometimes hard to pick what to follow and find the time to absorb it all. Find innovation leaders you aspire to be like and check out their social profiles or straight-out ask them what content they recommend. You'll be surprised at how many people are happy to support new talent into the profession. Podcasts are my friend! When I think my brain is done absorbing information after a long day I find I can flick on a podcast on my drive or flight home and the change of information delivery means it feels almost effortless to absorb this new content.

Está de más decir que el networking es clave en la innovación. Al ser transversal a todo rubro también se debe identificar a qué eventos clave ir y qué tipo de contactos queremos encontrar como wantrepreneurs, emprendedores, consultores, inversionistas, academia, etc. Todos tienen algo que ense?arnos pero tampoco debemos dedicarle más del tiempo debido a participar en eventos presenciales o virtuales sino enfocarnos en aquellos que nos traen beneficios o incluso clientes. Por último, es importante gestionar bien los contactos con un CRM que puede ser el mismo WhatsApp mediante etiquetas.

Networking is hard for everyone! Well almost everyone. This realisation was life changing for me. I never thought of myself as someone who was good at networking because I found it so hard. What I learnt, was with the right tools it can become much easier and even enjoyable (though still exhausting). Go into networking events having taken the opportunity to recharge yourself beforehand, bring your best energy to the room. Ask questions, listen for bits of information that give you topics you can dig further into and ask another question. Before you know it the conversation will flow and you'll wonder why you thought it was so hard.

Emphasize your ability to innovate and drive company growth with new approaches in your resume. Create a dedicated section like "Key Skills" or "Innovation Expertise" to showcase your capabilities. Highlight specific skills such as strategic thinking, analytical prowess, creative problem-solving for new solutions, and effective project management to translate innovative ideas into reality. Provide specific examples like developing and executing a growth strategy for a department, linking achievements to key innovation methodologies like Lean Methodology or Design Thinking, or providing your methods. Demonstrate your readiness to thrive in a dynamic innovation-driven setting.

Si ya cuentas con experiencia en uno o varios sectores puedes complementarlo con un bootcamp de Innovación o participando de competiciones de innovación y startups que ponen a prueba tu creatividad encontrando soluciones. Así como ser mentor, jurado o participar de Hackatons o ideathons. Muchas comunidades, incubadoras, consultoras e instituciones certifican la participación de sus eventos. Es importante recopilar y organizar estás certificaciones en categorías y cronológicamente. Por último, la innovación se adecua muy bien a los voluntariados en comunidades o eventos para el ecosistema, los cuales te acercan a ponentes y actores clave del ecosistema de innovación.

El primer paso para pensar fuera de la caja pienso que es en casa , desde cuando leemos acerca de formar de innovar y las vamos aplicando a nuestro día a día nos permite ver entre líneas y llevar esa realidad al trabajo . Con esto cuando nos presentan un problema de trabajo , nos ayuda a poder ver más haya aplicar experimentos que nos ayudarán a buscar el nicho de mercado que queremos para nuestros productos . Iterando en nuestros experimentos … pero pienso que conforme más normal sea la forma de pensar al proponer ideas diferentes y traer innovación de un segmento a otro . Nos permite tener ideas más acertadas . Es por eso que la práctica es el rey del aprendizaje .

Adam Grant’s book ‘Originals’ gives insights into the incredible challenges of scaling vital innovations across organizations. The more we practice in our current roles, the more we understand the natural default to status quo. As you might imagine, breaking with status quo is nearly impossible. To build your innovation skills in your current role cultivate curiosity about what is working and what is not working, have empathy with both internal and external stakeholders, initiate collaborative teamwork, encourage inclusion of diverse perspectives (conflict), and try to maintain a positive attitude with loads of patience. And then learn from the process, what might you do differently next time?

La Innovación está llena de metodologías y marcos de trabajo y se renuevan anualmente. No hay mejor manera que aprender que usarlo en casos reales o experimentos dentro de la organización que laboramos o en iniciativas propias. Es importante retarnos en entornos donde no estamos cómodos y donde podemos aplicar lo aprendido en un sector en otro sector.

Demonstrating you have been able to reinvent yourself in the past will set you up well to pivot into a new role in innovation. If you can't think of an example in your professional career, look outside to your personal life. We often under value the learning we have in our private lives. These can give us some of the most powerful examples of adaptability and being able to embrace change.