Innovation Leader (http://innovationleader.com) interviewed executives responsible for innovation initiatives at companies like Intel, Whirlpool, General Mills, and Goodyear. We also spoke to entrepreneurs who had been acquired into large companies. Here are the 20 insights we heard most often about the ways that big organizations sometimes shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to innovation. We welcome your comments. A version of this presentation was first published on Harvard Business Review Online in October 2013, as "11 Ways Big Companies Undermine Innovation." http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/11-ways-big-companies-undermine-innovation/

1. Ready, Aim, Shoot Self in Foot:
20 Ways Big Companies Undermine Innovation

2. Innovation is a “top priority,” but innovation
team has no budget or resources.

3. Chief Innovation Officers
brought in from elsewhere
are treated as outsiders:
“They don’t understand our
culture, how we do things
here.”

4. It must be instantly apparent and quantitatively
demonstrable how every new idea has 18 month
ROI or billion-dollar potential. Scads of
spreadsheets must be generated to evaluate every
aspect of cost and benefit.
“It’s a sign that things aren’t working
when there’s a lot of deferring
commitment, asking for more
analysis and data.”
— James Euchner,
VP/Global Innovation, Goodyear

5. The innovation team
doesn’t have (or isn’t
perceived to have) CEOlevel or board-level
support.

6. Conversely, the innovation team is seen as “the
CEO’s thing,” disconnected from business units
and their most pressing issues.
“You need to embrace lots of people, so they feel
they are part of the story.”
— Rishad Tobaccowala,
Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, VivaKi

7. “One of the typical flaws I’ve seen in innovation
programs is starting without a clear view of
strategy: What is it supposed to do? What do you
want out of it?”
— Moises Norena,
Global Director of Innovation, Whirlpool

8. The innovation team
is situated within the
core business, and
starved for resources
because the core
business needs them
to remain
competitive.

9. Expecting innovation &
creativity to be as
streamlined, efficient,
and measurable as all
the company’s other
operations.

10. Fear of releasing “alpha” or test versions of new
products/services to get early market feedback.
Instead, “Let 1,000 flowers bloom. Then mow.”
— David Rose
Entrepreneur & MIT Media Lab instructor

11. Seeking more influence and power, the
company’s Chief Information Officer has adopted
new title: Chief Innovation Officer.

12. Business units are billed for the innovation team’s
time. That creates a disincentive seek their
involvement in projects.
“If the innovation team is not part of many
conversations across the firm, it will be much less
effective...”
— Phil Swisher
Head of Innovation, Brown Brothers Harriman

13. All good ideas are
expected to spring from
the hermetically-sealed
world of the
corporation.
“A decade ago, the lab
was our world. Today,
we want the world to be
our lab.”
— Peter Erickson
EVP/Innovation,
General Mills

14. Company culture doesn’t tolerate
failure, or understand how to
learn from it.
Staffers linked to failed projects
see their career prospects dim.

15. Innovation is expected to happen in cubicles.
“I can’t tell you how many companies I know who
have innovation programs but no space to foster
creativity. Large spaces with walls of whiteboards
and comfy places to sit so people can brainstorm
ideas are critical.”
— Julia Austin,
Former VP Innovation, VMware

16. New ideas can’t cannibalize
or compete with existing
products or services, or
threaten today’s business
relationships.

17. The companies with the biggest budgets for R&D
and innovation-related spending often feel the
least competitive pressure to actually bring
innovations to market.

18. New market opportunities aren’t taken seriously
until a competitor makes a move, or until someone
else is generating real revenues.
Before that, “It can be hard to get business leaders
to make a judgment...It’s just hard to know what to
do until you get information in a format that you’re
used to seeing.”
— Brandon Barnett,
Director of Business Innovation, Intel Corp.

19. The innovation leader becomes more of a
cheerleader (or perennial panelist at
conferences), rather than someone who helps
create new businesses or enhance the company’s
competitive position.

20. “Some of the companies that struggle with
innovation, they know what needs to be done. But
there’s a lack of commitment and sticking with
it.”
“Innovation is not a short game. It’s the art of
playing the long game.”
— Peter Erickson,
EVP/Innovation, General Mills

21. “Innovation is typically portrayed as something
you do after you finish your real work.
But innovation is your real work.”
— Thornton May, Futurist

22. Innovation Leader is an independent information
service focused on the challenges of doing
innovation, and how established companies can
leverage innovation to sustain and grow their
position in the market.
Find out more at http://innovationleader.com
Follow us on Twitter: @InnoLead
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