How Leaders F-Up Innovation

When it comes to innovation, most tools, processes and frameworks are prescriptive. They promise, in essence, if you’d just do it right, you’ll always be successful. Somehow despite this, 75% of companies still report that their innovation efforts are not meeting their expectations, 60% of product launches continue to fail and 50% of innovation projects are abandoned. 

Having studied at Harvard Business School, Darden School of Business and Babson College, and innovated for companies as varied as Rubbermaid and Budweiser, Coca Cola and Keurig, Fujitsu and Peterbilt, I’ve learned a lot about innovation. One thing I’ve learned, there are many ways to innovate successfully. If way Oxo innovates is unlike the way Kellog’s does, which is different from P&G, Tesla or Abbot, it must mean there are various combinations of cultures, processes, talents can result in consistently successful innovations. If there are many ways to innovate successfully, why do so many fail?

Innovation leaders often focus on what they can do to drive success, but I’ve found that it’s equally, it not more, important to consider what they shouldn’t do – the absence of certain behaviors, biases, or assumptions can be just as critical to success as the presence of others. In my book I’ve complied the most common ways I’ve found innovation leaders’ actions have resulted in failure, and how these errors of experience, judgement, strategy and occasionally hubris, can be avoided. I’ve found there are many processes that help leaders consistently innovate successfully, but there are 8 ways that leaders consistently f-up innovation.

To learn more about the the 8 innovation leadership failures you must avoid to succeed, sign up below for updates to my book coming in early 2025.