Winning the future through innovation is not an alien idea to most imperiled market-leading incumbents. My experience is that they full-well understand the risks that they face from outsiders, they also are totally aware that only disruptive innovation will save them from those who intend to disrupt from outside and they are well-versed in such fashionable practices as design thinking, lean startups and open-innovation. We are talking about smart, successful managers in well-respected companies, after all. They know their craft well; but they just can’t innovate! It’s not their fault, they tell me; they are ready, willing and able, but too many forces conspire against them. Try as they may, and they do try they say, it is simply impossible to innovate in their situations. I think that they are telling me the truth as they see it, but I also think that they see it wrong. Let’s look at some of the most familiar reasons that we are told account for innovation not being pursued or not being possible to do... Read more
This post originally appeared on Forbes.com on May 6, 2018