When Hernan Cortez arrived in Mexico in 1519 he had 600 soldiers, 16 horses and 11 boats. The aim: to conquer the Aztec empire and plunder its wealth. Cortez was not the first conquistador. Others had attempted and failed.
Cortez adopted a different strategy to his predecessors when he announced to his troops: "burn the boats!" A high risk strategy; if his plan failed there would be no exit strategy. "Burn the boats" was a statement of choice: we succeed or we die.
Burn the boats is a statement of unwavering commitment. It is also a signal of the need to abandon the current business model to look to the future with new products and services.
It is the statement that we have left our old ways of doing business behind. Given the legacy of past successes, the dynamics of political relationships, the sheer weight of cultural assumptions about how we operate, it can be tough to say:"we now need to burn our boats" and accept a very different future.
A G Laffley at Proctor & Gamble did it when he announced that 50% of products would originate from outside the firm. Steve Jobs burned his boats when he cut over 80% of Apple’s product line. Kodak didn’t burn its boats, preferring to hang on to old technology (and the associated political interests of senior players) rather than reinvent itself and is now bankrupt.
Tom Peters suggests that every company should appoint a C.D.O. - a Chief Destructive Officer - whose task is to "burn boats" and indicate what is past and should be abandoned to commit to a different future.
Greg Githens positions innovation within strategic initiatives and what leaders should know:
http://leadingstrategicinitiatives.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/five-things-si-leaders-need-to-know-about-innovation/
1. Innovation is not the same thing as invention or creativity
Innovation does not need to be new to the world, just new to a person who sees its value. We innovate when we spot existing ideas and find ways to combine them and communicate them in a way that energises others to implement improvements.
2. Innovations do not sell themselves
As leaders we cannot rely on the brilliance of any one idea to make the organisation sit up and pay attention. Leadership involves "developing awareness of the innovation, fostering a positive attitude toward the innovation, and commitment to adopt the innovation".
3. Innovation involves choices and decisions
When others respond to an innovation, they filter the idea against the TACOS test:
4. It is a gross exaggeration to declare that people "resist change"
The reality is that others adopt innovations at different speeds; from the innovators are the bold individuals who want the latest thing to the laggards who take their time to gauge the impact of the innovation.
5. Leaders help people cross the chasm
When innovation crosses the chasm it gains the critical mass where the majority will adopt it. This is the hard work of innovation to sell the business benefits, articulate a persuasive vision and influence key opinion formers.Jamie Chamberlin identifies eight types of creative leader: http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/inspiring.aspx
Replicators who maintain the status quo
Redefiners who put a new spin on existing leadership or innovation
Forward incrementors who move a field or organization a step further in the direction it was headed
Advanced forward incrementors who attempt to lead a field further than others are ready to go
Redirectors who point an organization or field in a new direction
Regressive redirectors who reintroduce an idea that worked well in the past
Reinitiators who initiate a fresh start for a field or organization
Synthesizers who integrate the best ideas from what's been done previously
Researcher Robert Sternberg suggests that "different types of creative leaders are effective under different circumstances." For example, replicators tend to be successful during stable periods, whereas redirectors thrive in organizations or fields in need of a change to survive. Organizations will fare best if they understand the type of creative leader they need at a given point in time."
http://www.robertsrulesofinnovation.com/inspire-and-initiate
Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton Christensen summarise the results of their research in "The Innovator’s DNA", study of 500 innovators and 5,000 executives in 75 countries to find the common denominator of what makes an Innovation leader.
The key finding: innovation is not just a product of the mind but also of behaviors, and outline the five specific patterns:
http://www.bqf.org.uk/innovation/2010/07/07/to-boost-innovation-just-keep-the-boss-away/
In their research of the innovation processes at 30 large consumer and package good companies Neilsen found that companies with less senior management involvement in the new product development process generated 80 percent more new product revenue than those with heavy senior management involvement.
"One of the keys to successful new product innovation is to manage new ideas lightly," said Neilsen. "While we don’t dispute senior management’s strengths and good intentions, they are often too quick to get involved in the creative process, especially when things are not going well, and their mere presence can stifle free-thinking and boundaryless ideas - which can doom the new product development process to failure."
Their recommendation: manage ideas lightly, but manage the process precisely,
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2010/secret_to_successful.html
In their book "Nanovation" - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nanovation-Little-Teach-World-Think/dp/1595554424/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327935234&sr=1-1- Kevin & Jackie Freiberg map out four ways in which leaders can set the tone for greater innovation:
Be comfortable being uncomfortable. Mario Andretti said: "if you feel in control you’re not driving fast enough". Innovation makes us and others uncomfortable. It is messy and creates uncertainty. It also challenges the power dynamics of the status quo that might make us unpopular.
Have guts to live dangerously. This is leadership as a decision to be courageous to take risks and move to the difficult problems with no obvious answers.
Shake it up. Hire some crazies. The crazies are "the noncomformists, frustrated activists and eccentrics on the lunatic fringe." These are the individuals who stretch and test (and our patience), who challenge and question, and are difficult and troublesome. But they may be the ones who provide imagination and ingenuity.
Be hungry for change. Hunger provides ambition to improve and focus and determination to pursue our goals.
"Of all the events that can deeply engage people in their jobs, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work."
Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer argue that managers at all levels routinely - and unwittingly - undermine the meaningfulness of work for their employees through everyday words and actions.
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_leaders_kill_meaning_at_work_2910
The four traps that lie in wait for senior executives in undermining the kind of purpose that drives innovation:
1. Mediocrity signals. This is the gap between claims to greatness and excellence and the day to day reality of "we’re comfortable being ordinary".
2. Strategic attention deficit disorder. Overwhelmed by a range of emerging opportunities and potential ideas, senior executives hop from one initiative to another, abandoning one promising idea after another in search of something better.
3. Corporate KeyStone Kops. This is the frenzied mad dash in which senior executives run around in circles, confused by complex matrix structures and poorly coordinated cross functional activity.
4. Misbegotten "big hairy audacious goals". Jim Collins popularized the idea of BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals), that bold strategic move with emotional appeal that raises organisational expectations of what is possible. Otherwise known as grandiose statements, they may be good for executive ego but do nothing for those on the front line.
A few ways to avoid the traps:
Irving Wladawsky-Berger reckons the cards are stacked against innovation:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2008/id20080822_832405.htm
Indifference. This is innovation as the "mouthing of words" but because innovation isn’t in the DNA of the senior management team, nothing much happens. Debates are innovation are conducted politely, but the discussion rarely moves on to action.
Hostility. Ideas are suggested and then shot down in flames. Hostility may be driven by senior management defensiveness, arrogance or a general tone of competitive intimidation. In this organisational climate, innovation is a disruptive force that must be attacked and rejected.
Isolation. As the 2004 National Innovation Initiative report indicated, innovation arises from the "intersections of different fields or spheres of activity". It takes two at least to tango in innovation. Individuals stuck in functional silos will find it difficult to locate the diverse perspectives and skills that spark new thinking or the energy and emotional support to nurture promising ideas at an early stage in their development.
In 1991 Chairman Ratan Tata decided that Tata had to make innovation a key priority to survive and succeed in a global economy:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2009/id20090819_070601.htm
Tata embarked on a series of moves, including:
Jessie Scanlon summarises the lessons: leadership lays the foundation; hire the right people but build in processes; develop systems to ensure ideas are identified quickly, supported and funded, use social media to tap ideas and encourage collaboration, and celebrate the successes of the innovators.
Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google, outlines how its golden rules maintain a flow of innovation:
http://www.think-differently.org/2007/08/google-on-innovation/