Igniting New Growth – My Improbable Journey, Part 2

The full article is available on my blog at https://blog.leansystems.org/

Last time, I described how my 8-year journey into the world of Innovation & digital transformation began. For years, I was all about Lean/OpEx (Toyota’s Production System) – the process-, productivity-, and quality-driven methods that had changed the world. And then my friend & colleague, Laurent Simon, introduced me to the world of Fintech and disruptive innovation. This opened up a whole new world, and I got to learn from splendid senseis like Steve Blank, Alex Osterwalder, Ash Maurya, and the late, great Clayton Christensen.

Frequent trips to Singapore & San Francisco propelled my learning. I joined Laurent’s team on Digital innovation sprints and got to know extraordinary people like Paul Cobban, Chief Transformation Officer (retired) at DBS, a repeat winner of the ‘Best Digital Bank’ award. I was on a steep learning curve, but I kept practicing & had splendid teachers. Gradually, I absorbed the methods and mindsets of Innovation. With time, Laurent & I developed a body of knowledge & practice that we call ‘Smart Growth’.

Laurent & I have had a number of epiphanies:

·?????? Lean/OpEx lays the foundation for Innovation but is not sufficient.

·?????? Ambidexterity is the key to sustained prosperity. You must both a) protect your core business with Lean/OpEx, and b) ignite new Growth using Digital methods.?

·?????? ‘Two-Gear’ organizations, and people, will enjoy sustained prosperity

·?????? Ambidexterity is hard because Lean/OpEx and Innovation exist in two different worlds, first described by Aristotle 2,400 hundred years ago.? (I know that sounds odd, but it’s true.)

·?????? Digital innovation does not begin with Tech, it begins with the customer

·?????? Most organizations do not understand their customers

In our innovation sprints Laurent would say, “We have to understand the customer better than they understand themselves.” Sounds like a cliché, right? Trust me, it’s true. I’m a Toyota-trained engineer and thought I was customer-focused. Following Laurent’s lead, we gained an entirely different level of insight. And often that led to the proverbial ‘Blue Ocean’, our mother lode. Especially helpful was the “Double-Diamond” method of discovering and validating ideas over and over.

But here's the catch: Digital innovation needs to be built on a solid foundation. It’s like a house – if the foundation’s shaky, nothing will last. I realized this when a senior RPA (Robotic Process Automation) executive told me, “If you bring us garbage processes, you’ll get garbage at the speed of light.” And Lean/OpEx provides that foundation.

For the past eight years, my personal practice has entailed mentoring senior leaders through two main ‘learn by doing’ programs:

·?????? Exec 101 (Protecting the Core Business), and

·?????? Exec 201 (Igniting New Growth).

My goal is to help senior leaders and Board members experience the same aha moments I experienced.? I want you to feel Aristotle’s ‘two worlds’ in your bones!

I’ve felt the thrill of major new car model launches, and lived the ‘hockey stick curve’ with Innovation teams around the world. ?I’ve thereby learned two extraordinary sets of skills and mental models. I’ve thereby directly experienced the great challenge of ambidexterity. Can we protect our core business with the proven methods of Lean/OpEx – and also ignite new Growth using Digital methods?

Laurent & I decided to write a book about this journey – the highs & lows, the battles we have to win, the blockers & how to handle them. It’s a business novel called Harnessing Digital Disruption, and it’s packed with practical insights and war stories. It’s also a love letter to Singapore, a city I’ve come to love. In fact, we include a map of our favorite hangouts, which are featured in the book.

I’m going to keep writing about my improbable journey, and all I’ve learned. Special thanks to my friend, colleague and Digital sensei, Laurent Simon. Hope you find these pieces interesting!

If you'd like to hear more, drop me a line at [email protected].

Pascal Dennis

#DigitalDisruption #InnovationJourney #LeanStrategy #DisruptiveLeadership #OpExExcellence

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