Nurturing Innovation Mindset

Nurturing
Innovation
Mindset
Tathagat Varma
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

The Marketing
Myopia…continues!
“The term was coined by the late Harvard
Business School marketing professor,
Theodore Levitt, in a 1960 article by the same
name (republished in 2004). The “heart of the
article,” according to Deighton, is Levitt’s
argument that companies are too focused on
producing goods or services and don’t spend
enough time understanding what customers
want or need. Therefore, he “encouraged
executives to switch from a production
orientation to a consumer orientation.” As Levitt
used to tell his students, “People don’t
want a quarter-inch drill.
They want a quarter-inch
hole!””
A Refresher on Marketing Myopia – Amy Gallo,
https://hbr.org/2016/08/a-refresher-on-marketing-myopia

Invention Cycle
• Imagination is envisioning things that
don’t exist, and requires engagement
and the ability to envision alternatives.
• Creativity is applying imagination to
address a challenge, and requires
motivation and experimentation to
address challenges.
• Innovation is applying creativity to
generate unique solutions, and requires
focusing and reframing to generate
unique solutions.
• Entrepreneurship is applying
innovation, scaling unique ideas by
inspiring others’ imagination, and
requires persistence and the ability to
inspire others.
From Inspiration to Implementation: Introducing the Invention Cycle – Tina Seelig,
https://tseelig.medium.com/inventure-cycle-e89579b328da

Types of Innovation
The 4 Types of Innovation and the Problems They Solve – Greg Satell,
https://hbr.org/2017/06/the-4-types-of-innovation-and-the-problems-they-solve

What is an innovation process?
Stage 1: Idea generation
and mobilization
Stage 2: Advocacy and
Screening
Stage 3: Experimentation
Stage 4:
Commercialization
Stage 5:
Diffusion and
Implementation
The Five Stages of Successful Innovation – Alissa Mariello,
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-five-stages-of-successful-innovation/
Serendipity is not a strategy, yet that’s the extent of most companies’ innovation planning. The
importance of innovation to a company’s future is unquestionable. Then why do so few
companies have a process for it?

Why do people
buy your
milkshakes?
Clayton Christensen: The Theory of Jobs to be Done,
https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/clay-christensen-the-theory-of-jobs-to-be-done

Reality check…!
“In surveys of 106 C-suite executives who represented 91
private and public-sector companies in 17 countries, I found
that a full 85% strongly agreed or agreed that their
organizations were bad at problem diagnosis, and 87%
strongly agreed or agreed that this flaw carried significant
costs. Fewer than one in 10 said they were unaffected by the
issue. The pattern is clear: Spurred by a penchant for action,
managers tend to switch quickly into solution mode
without checking whether they really understand the
problem.”
Are You Solving the Right Problems – Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg,
https://hbr.org/2017/01/are-you-solving-the-right-problems

Regular problem solving…

Power of Reframing…

Seven Practices for Effective Reframing
Establish
legitimacy
1
Bring Outsiders
into the
discussion
2
Get people’s
definitions in
writing
3
Ask what’s
missing
4
Consider
multiple
categories
5
Analyze positive
exceptions
6
Question the
objective
7

The Problem-Definition Process
Establish the Need for
a Solution
• What is the basic need?
• What is the desired
outcome?
• Who stands to benefit
and why?
Justify the need
• Is the effort aligned with
our strategy?
• What are the desired
benefits for the company,
and how will we measure
them?
• How will we ensure that a
solution is implemented?
Contextualize the
problem
• What approaches have
we tried?
• What have others tried?
• What are the internal and
external constraints on
implementing a solution?
Write the problem
statement
• Is the problem actually
many problems?
• What requirements must
a solution meet?
• Which problem solvers
should we engage?
• What information and
language should the
problem statement
include?
• What do solvers need to
submit?
• What incentives do
solvers need?
• How will solutions be
evaluated and success
measured?
Are You Solving the Right Problem? – Dwayne Spradlin,
https://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem

Prioritizing the problems
Listen to
customers
Follow the
money
Eye on the
clock

Prioritized
Problem
Portfolio
Great Innovators Create the Future, Manage the Present, and Selectively Forget the Past – Vijay Govindrajan,
https://hbr.org/2016/03/great-innovators-create-the-future-manage-the-present-and-selectively-forget-the-past

Scaling Innovation
Scalable Innovation: A Guide for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and IP Professionals – Eugene Shteny and Max Shtein

What’s an innovation mindset?
• Purpose, Vision, Big Picture, Passion, Drive, North Star, Inner
Calling, “Sell”, Imaginative,
• Beginner’s Mindset “Shoshin”, Observe, Curious, Empathetic,
Learner, Improvement seeker, Reframe
• Risk-taker, Courage, Challenge Status Quo, Tinkerer, Maker,
Scientific Mind, Bias for Action, Experiment, Prototype, Seek
feedback, Keep Moving, Grit, Disruptor, Outside the comfort
zone, Competitive, Independent, Persistent, High energy, Sense
of urgency, Ignore critics
• Share, Collaborate, Relationship, Network builder, Scale
• Initiative, Accountability, Ownership, Perseverance, Go
Getter…Finisher!

Intrapreneurship
“Today's large corporations are suffering from size. They are so large that the managers making
decisions are often isolated from a personal knowledge of the problems to be solved. The traditional
answer for this situation is decentralization.
Unfortunately, decentralization alone is not enough. In a hierarchical organization, promotions can be
won by social graces, loyalty to one's boss, and in general, political skills. Courage, original thought,
and ability to observe the obvious but overlooked fact, do not necessarily lead to success.
If we are to get really good problem-solving in our decentralized corporation,- we must introduce a
system that gives the decision to those who get successful results., not to the inoffensive. Such
people will be willing to take moderate risks and will be more concerned with achieving results than
with gaining influence. These are among the characteristics of the successful entrepreneur.
What is needed in the large corporation is not more semi-independent departments run by hard-
driving yes men'. but something akin to free market entrepreneurship within the corporate
organization. Such a new way of doing business would be a social invention of considerable
importance, both for the individuals in it, and for the productivity and responsivity of the corporation.”
Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot, 1978
http://www.intrapreneur.com/MainPages/History/IntraCorp.html

1. Ask for advice before asking for
resources.
2. Express gratitude.
3. Build your team; intrapreneuring
is not a solo activity.
4. Share credit widely.
5. Keep the best interests of the
company and its customers in
mind, especially when you have
to bend the rules or circumvent
the bureaucracy.
6. Don't ask to be fired; even as you
bend the rules and act without
permission, use all the political
skill you and your sponsors can
muster to move the project
forward without making waves.
http://www.pinchot.com/2011/11/the-intrapreneurs-ten-commandments.html

Sustaining innovation as BAU!
Business focused:
Strongly aligned to
business
Democratization:
Scaling it across the
organization
Continuous: Moving
from a one-off to a
continuous integration
Culture: Innovation is
embedded inside the
organization

Nurturing Innovation Mindset

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Nurturing Innovation Mindset