Lessons from 17 years in corporate innovation

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Chris Hudson, the host of the Company Road podcast, to talk through everything I’ve learned from 17 years of working with companies like Hilton, HSBC, Walgreens, Microsoft and Avon to design the ventures, products and service of tomorrow.

Whether you’re battling to make the case for change inside your organisation, are struggling to move with enough speed, trying to manage risk, simplify your approach to building new propositions or wondering who you need in your team, I’m pretty sure you’ll find the answers here. We also discussed:

• The democratisation of innovation: How individuals can practically learn innovation as a skill & readjust limiting mindsets to do so
• Fostering entrepreneurial mindsets: Why developing entrepreneurial mindsets within your people is crucial in encouraging innovation
• Open vs closed innovation: Balancing forms of innovation & the secret method to employing both for optimal success
• Identifying the need for change: Signs to look out for in knowing when and why it’s time for your organisation to enact change
• Staying motivated within failure: How you can remain energised and excited in the face of seemingly continual innovation failure.

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Here's what we covered:

00:00:00 - Introduction to the Enablers of Corporate Growth

00:01:46 - Background and Experience in Corporate Innovation

00:05:04 - The Shift in Corporate Innovation Methods

00:07:24 - The Barriers to Innovation in Large Companies

00:10:38 - Bringing Breakthrough Thinking and Business as Usual Together

00:13:25 - Safeguarding Innovation and Demonstrating Future Value

00:16:28 - Collecting Evidence for Innovation Ideas

00:19:09 - Evolving Propositions in Line with Customer Needs

00:22:18 - Building the Right Team for Innovation

00:25:01- Creating Conditions for Entrepreneurialism in Corporates

00:28:15 - Managing Speed and Two-Speed Dynamics in Innovation

00:30:52 - Involving the Right People in the Innovation Process

00:34:01 - Getting Started with Innovation in Less Mature Organisations

00:36:52 - Avoiding Pitfalls in the Innovation Space

00:41:01 - Balancing Closed and Open Innovation

00:44:23 - Recognising Signs and Signals for Innovation

00:45:49 - Staying Energised and Focused in Innovation

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PS. If you want to talk more on any of the subjects raised, you can grab a call with me here.