An #Innovation Amateur's Opinion: The Innovator's Handbook 2022 – "How Invincible is Your Company?"

Textbook Compilation: Innov8rs

Chapter Authorship: Alexander Osterwalder & Tendayi Viki, Associate Partner / Co-Founder at Strategyzer?

Innovation has been a buzzword since the '80s, with the vitality of the concept intensifying during the Internet of Things phenomena. In 2010,?a McKinsey Global Survey revealed?that 96% of executives had defined innovation as a strategic priority. The?Accenture 2015 US Innovation Survey?tells a similar story denoting?84% of executives considered their future success to be very or highly dependent on innovation. Fast-forward to today; presently, within the post-pandemic and peak digital transformation hybrid era, innovation has evolved as a prioritized concept that is now imperative to corporate sustainability rather than a trailblazer commodity.

As an escalating initiative, the pinnacle business challenge resides within the executable conversion from innovation as an isolated exercise into innovation as a systematic capability. Authors Alex Osterwalder and Tendayi Viki cleverly frame this problem statement into a question of company invincibility or the brand's ability to recreate itself through a repeatable and standardized flow of operations. Traditional quantitative and historical qualitative metrics are obsolete; thus, the authors provide three critical questions for reflective analysis.

To determine corporate invincibility, consider the following:

1.????What is the ratio of innovation projects discontinued vs. continued?

2.????What margin do innovation projects contribute to the overall revenue?

3.????Where do the innovation initiatives align within the organizational chart?

1.????What is the ratio of innovation projects discontinued vs. continued?

The answer to this question reveals the level of riskiness a company is willing to endure. Higher kill rates indicate an aggressive and diversified project portfolio, while lower kill rates imply conservative and efficiency-centric developments. Invincibility thrives in exploration and manifests in reinvention; consequently, the dominating outliers encourage employee exploration and efficiently expedite failure. Invincible companies have robust and dynamic invention pipelines, which are perpetually flowing with electric participation. ?

2.????What margin do innovation projects contribute to the overall revenue?

The answer to this question exposes the value impact the R&D campaigns inflict on the bottom line. Greater, stable contributions reinforce the internal culture of invention, whereas lower, sporadic influences devalue the R&D invention activities. Invincibility flourishes in the corporate ecosystem that prioritizes and emphasizes invention efforts, and the company culture genuinely indoctrinates innovation strategically. Failure to evangelize sustainability and foster momentum gradually heightens the brand's vulnerability to all fields of uncertainty, and inevitability results incorporate extinction. ??

3.????Where do the innovation initiatives align within the organizational chart?

The answer to this question uncovers the valuation authenticity and leadership intention associated with innovation as a strategic initiative. Agenda prioritization instigates resource allocation, giving weighted innovative campaigns advantageous momentum towards transformative ability. Invincibility resonates in an ecosystem where quantifiable program metrics mirror the qualitative value propositions, and marginally disproportionate favoritism towards innovation is apparent. Time allocation is the vital prioritization indicator, exposing the strength of executive sponsorship from a top-down approach; additionally, leadership alignment supplements through the integral breadth.

·??????Who should ask the questions? Traditionally, the board of directors.

·??????Why should we ask these questions? For an accurate gradient mechanism and unbiased evidentiary validation determining corporate invincibility.

In summary, corporate invincibility, the brand's ability to recreate itself through a repeatable and standardized flow of operations, is the volatile ability contingent on an organization's accurate valuation on innovation. Innovation theatre tactics will not satisfy the three questions authors Alex Osterwalder, and Tendayi Viki expertly formulated. Each of the three intrinsic self-assessment interrogatories is composed of a simple design structure, common sense reasoning, and concrete data sets to deflate the conceptual ambiguity with tactical, operational truth.?