Pitfalls in managing innovation

1. Pitfalls of Managing Innovation
Prof. Rene T. Domingo
rtd@aim.edu
www.rtdonline.com

2. Peter
Paul

3. Applying Innovation
• Product design
• Service design
• Process design
• Policy design
• Organizational design
• Strategy Design
• Business Model

4. 1/10
Failure to unlearn
(Trying to be smarter than a fifth grader)

5. A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing, so is a lot.” –Albert Einstein

6. Michelangelo when asked how he created the sculpture David:
“David was always there in the rock. I just
removed away the bits that weren’t David.”

7. “HARVARD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL DROPOUT”
I applaud the graduates today for taking a
much more direct route to your degrees.
For my part, I’m just happy that the
Crimson has called me “Harvard’s most
successful dropout.” I guess that makes me
valedictorian of my own special class … I
did the best of everyone who failed.
But I also want to be recognized as the guy
who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of
business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s
why I was invited to speak at your
graduation. If I had spoken at your
orientation, fewer of you might be here
today.

8. Celebrate absurdities

9. Benchmarking

10. 2/10
Failure to collaborate
(Do-it-all, I-know-everything mindset)

11. “If I have seen further it is by standing on the
shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton

12. 3/10
Listening too much to customers
(VOC obsessed)

13. “Satisfied customers are not loyal customers.”

14. 4/10
Overuse of consensus

15. “If everyone is thinking alike, then no
one is thinking” - Benjamin Franklin

16. 5/10
Failure to have fun

18. 6/10
Not knowing when to stop
“Creeping elegance”

19. “It will be finished when it’s finished.”
Michelangelo responding to a follow up call by a royal client.

20. 7/10
“The boss is always right” culture

21. 8/10
Failure to create a crisis

22. Typical excuses not to innovate
• We are busy with our work.
• We have to catch up with our sales volume.
• We can meet our goals with our current products.
• I don’t have anyone to spare for that project.
• That’s not the priority of our boss.
• (Silently) “I won’t get promoted for doing that.”

23. Disruptive Technology

24. Innovation as a KPI

25. 9/10
Treating innovation as typical
investment and work

26. ATTENDANCE
INCENTIVE
IRR SCHEMES
PAYBACK
INNOVATION
NPV ROI
PERFORMANCE
APPRAISAL Breakeven
Analysis PUNCTUALITY

27. Celebrate failures

28. IBM founder Thomas J. Watson Sr.,
"Fire you? Why would I do that? I've just spent $10 million
educating you. Now let's talk about your next project.”

29. "I did not fail 1000 times, I discovered 1000 ways
how not to make a lightbulb.“ - Edison

30. 10/10
Failure of Imagination

31. “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever
remains, no matter how improbable, must be
the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes

32. Pitfalls in Managing Innovation
1. Failure to unlearn
2. Failure to collaborate
3. Listening too much to customers
4. Overuse of consensus
5. Failure to have fun
6. Not knowing when to stop
7. “The boss in always right” culture
8. Failure to create a crisis
9. Treating innovation as typical investment and work
10.Failure of imagination

33. “Stay hungry, stay foolish”- Steve Jobs
Stanford U. Commencement Address
June 12, 2005

34. Pitfalls of Managing Innovation
Prof. Rene T. Domingo
rtd@aim.edu
www.rtdonline.com