7 Tough Truths for Corporate Innovators in 2020

At Innovation Leader, since the coronavirus pandemic began, we've been talking with executives in large organizations as part of our member-only roundtables, our weekly One Quick Thing Zoom gathering, and in off-the-record conversations. (A few of those convos have been with innovation and R&D leaders who have suddenly found themselves in the job market.)

The bottom line: if you have a role that involves envisioning the future, bringing in new technologies, or designing what's next for your organization, 2020 is going to be the most challenging year of your professional life. I think the goals are simple:

1. To still have a job at the end of the year.
2. To protect as much of your team and your capability as you can.
3. To help your organization survive, stay in tune with customer needs that change by the day, build new strengths — and maybe even grow.

To achieve those goals, I think it's time to face six hard truths. (What's the seventh? I'm hoping you'll tell me in the comments...and I'll choose some of the best contributions as I expand this piece for the next issue of our magazine.)

Truth #1: If you're living only in Horizons 2 and 3, you've got a target on your back

When things are humming in the core business, it can be strategically smart to stay in your lane, prototyping and testing concepts that will deliver value in Horizons 2 or 3 — the mid- or long-term future. But when there are fires to fight in the core business, and budgets are being applied to those crises, everybody gets very focused on the short-term. It becomes easy and non-controversial to cut investments dedicated to any sort of future businesses, new customer segments, and unproven next-generation technologies.

Are there ways that your team can be solving problems for the core business in 2020?Perhaps by testing new sales channels that don't require face-to-face meetings... Collaboration technologies that can make everyone more productive when they are working from home... Or ways to make offices and production plants safer as more people return?

I've been saying that in 2020, most companies are living in Horizon 0.25, not even Horizon 1. Look for ways that your team can create value in that timeframe.

In 2020, most companies are living in Horizon 0.25, not even Horizon 1. Look for ways that your team can create value in that timeframe.

Truth #2: You don't have enough allies in the company or on the board

Yes, it's great that you have a champion in the C-Suite. But to keep innovation initiatives alive through difficult times, you will need to recruit a few more. You'll need functional and business unit leaders to support your activities, and to feel like you're helping them achieve their goals. And if you can find a route to briefing the board (or key board commitees) on what you've been achieving, and where the next big opportunities lie, you are doing better than 97% of innovation groups out there.

Truth #3: Your metrics from January don't matter anymore

If you were tracking things like the number of ideas you've collected, training sessions you've run, hypotheses you've tested, or startups you've met with, sorry. The metrics people care about right now are things like cost savings, growth of online sales, supply chain flexibility, and better work-from-home productivity. How is your team contributing measurably to your company's most important 2020 objectives?

Truth #4: You've been under-communicating

How much do colleagues know about your successes so far, how you can help them, and how they can get involved in your initiatives? In most companies, the answer is two words: Not enough. It's time to dial up posts on the intranet, videos, podcasts, live web conferences, and external PR or thought leadership pieces that your colleagues will see, share, and feel proud of. And if your communications and engagement strategy used to rely heavily on in-person events and activities to generate excitement, it's time to reimagine that.

Truth #5: You've got to play with the team you've got.

In Innovation Leader's State of Innovation 2020 report, which gathered data from 113 innovation, R&D, and strategy professionals in late April/early May, 51 percent of respondents said they were operating under a hiring freeze. Eighteen percent of respondents told us their companies had executed layoffs that affected their innovation activities, and 16 percent had executed furloughs.

This is a great time to build your team's skills and capabilities (or your own); to find local MBA, engineering, or design programs to collaborate with; or to leverage talent networks like Topcoder, Fiverr, Upwork, and Catalant.

Truth #6: Driven and passionate startups can still disrupt incumbents

On May 27th, a privately-held company that was founded 18 years ago, SpaceX, launched two NASA astronauts on a successful trip to the International Space Station. Its rival, Boeing, founded 104 years ago, is still debugging the spacecraft it hopes will eventually be able to perform the same task. SpaceX got paid 60 percent of what Boeing got paid by NASA to build a rocket that could take humans to the space station. SpaceX has 7,000 employees; Boeing is cutting 14,000 jobs this year— about 10 percent of its entire workforce. Boeing just eliminated the equivalent of two SpaceX's, and it is still playing catchup with SpaceX.

If you have an innovation outpost in Silicon Valley, it is getting some serious scrutiny. How much is that rent in Mountain View again?

Right now, your company thinks startups are irrelevant. It is no longer interested in your scouting reports. It doesn't want to partner or invest in them. If you have an innovation outpost in Silicon Valley, it is getting some serious scrutiny. How much is that rent in Mountain View again? But it's important for you to remind people that there is a SpaceX out there with your name on it, and they are going to spend the next year... five years... maybe even 18 years working to do what your company does faster, better, cheaper — and maybe even more reliably.

Truth 7: ???

What should be #7 on this list? I'd love it if you'd post your suggestion below.

If you are a little discouraged by these tough truths, let me just say one last thing: Moments like these require builders. They require creative problem solvers. They require innovators.

Moments like these require people like you.