One critical thing innovation leaders must do

There is a common misconception that innovation tactics—sometimes also called innovation vehicles—like accelerators, incubators, startup partnerships, corporate venturing, and similar, are substitutes for clear innovation objectives and strategy.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. Aforementioned are means, not ends. Yes, an organisation can benefit from deploying a number of different tactics in order to diversify its risk. But these tactics should be selected based on strategic objectives, not the other way around.

If the leadership absolves responsibility of setting innovation strategy, then they run the risk of having people waste time on ideas that ultimately won’t move the needle for the organisation, nor advance its strategic interests.

Read more about Managing Innovation at Scale.