Alliance Partners

Friday, October 03, 2014

Big Corporates - Innovate or Die!!

Innovation is becoming the buzzword - not only in the innovation hubs of startups - but also in the land of the big corporates

Indications that the Bureacratic Disease is setting in
  • Are you starting to defend your margins through pricing?
  • Is bureaucracy rife and issues re people trying to maintain their positions an, titles and jobs a problem?
  • Is it a mission to do something different?
  • can you relate to the drain phenomena?
  • Is the early vision of your Company exhausted?
A growing number of large brands are investing in non-core innovation for Growth. They must.
Disruption knocks. For some, disruption has all but destroyed the current status quo.

As my mentor Allen Pathmarajah says - when the rate of change on the outside is greater than the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.

there are 2 fundamental reasons why large corporates don't thrive in innovation
1. risk appetite is low and
2. fear of failing

Below are 8 examples of how organisations have started to infuse innovation into their culture
  1. Silicon Valley outposts, Nestle detting up a facility there
  2. Telstra supporting Muru-D
  3. Google supporting Fishburners
  4. On-Premise accelerators: Polleniser incubating Spreets
  5. Co-location with entrepreneurs, such as the RocketSpace model in San Francisco (soon             NYC and London)
  6. Continual learning - The Innovation Masterclass and the 10X Coaching Club and its                   accredited Business Diploma
  7. Attending investor forums
  8. Create a space where its ok for risky behaviour and the ability to push the edge with the             comfort that its ok to fail 
Many organisations need a good dose of new leadership to make innovation real and sticky.

Innovation is not a nice to have - its a necessity - and its good business.

Steve Blank talks about innovative businesses needing to both improve and invent!


So - in summary
  • Continuous disruption will be the norm for corporations in the 21st century
  • Continuous innovation – in the form of new businesses-  will be the path for long term corporate survival
  • Current corporate organisational models are inadequate for the task
  • Look to set up an Innovation Mastermind Group

The video below ( emphasizes that companies will need to have an organization that can do two things at the same time:  executing and improving existing models and inventing  – new and disruptive – business models.



When I speak to a founder of a start-up - it really gets my juices flowing 

They don't talk about building a lifestyle business (which represents 90% of all SME's). My Dad was a pharmacist, and his why was to earn enough money to live well, feed and educate his family and enjoy a day at the races to get is adrenalin pumping…..

Founders of Startups talk about

  • How they are going to change the world by doing something important
  • They are disrupting
  • They are making a massive difference
  • They are going to take over the universe
  • They are excited and they are on a mission

DO you think there should be a position for an Chief Innovation Officer? 
Can this position be outsourced? 
Would you like to learn more about innovation? 


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