Found at all levels of the workforce but often stifled by managers, gig mindsetters are disruptors who upend business as usual and bridge gaps while achieving surprising outcomes and charting new directions. Six case studies of early adopters illustrate how it is shaping business in diverse fields: science and technology, industrial energy, healthcare, financial services, agricultural commodity trading and legal services.
In this episode, we explore some case studies in innovation including: Samsung The Pentagon The cement company-turned renewables EcoCem The paint company AkzoNobel and many nuggets of wisdom in between thank to Ben Bensaou
Too often, when leaders realize they need to reinvent, it is too late. Organizations reluctantly reinvent in times of crisis because of some market turbulence or an upstart competitor is eating into their P&L sheet. When they do this in desperation or as a last resort, they rarely reinvent effectively and they rarely survive. In their book, “Stall Points”, Matthew S. Olson and Derek van Bever revealed that once an organization experiences a major stall in its growth, it has less than a 10% chance of ever enjoying its previous levels of success.
It’s no secret that continuous innovation is the key to seizing and maintaining the competitive edge in today’s increasingly challenging business environment. Unfortunately, the process for achieving this holy grail of business has been a mystery—until now thanks to Ben Bensaou.
In such cases, the eye “narrows in” on the potential opportunity or threat and we become blinkered. Huberman shares the visual example of a person looking into a forest when the pupil is dilated. You can see in the image below when a stressed (dilated) eye looks into a forest, it only sees the tree in the forest, everything else blurs into the background.
It is a pleasure to welcome the author of “Built to Innovate: Essential Practices to Wire Innovation into Your Company’s DNA” Ben Bensaou, welcome to the show.
I once worked in a large bureaucratic organisation. I was struck by many aspects of the toxic culture, but one aspect of the experience remains with me to this day. Many people in the organisation appeared visibly much older than the age they actually were. It didn’t take long to figure out why and it had nothing to do with genetics or environmental pollution, but everything to do with caged lifeforce. It led to an effect I call the “Reverse Dorian Gray” effect. Before I explain what this is, a very quick recap of Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray may help (skip if you know it already).
Flux challenges your assumptions and expectations in ways that enable you to lean into the future with hope rather than fear, and with clarity and confidence anchored in what makes you, you.
We welcome the author of Flux, 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change, April Rinne
We welcome friend of the Innovation Show and author of yet another fantastic book, Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company, Whitney Johnson.
Just as innovation-focused restaurants have realised it is better to structure reinvention in a different way to repetition, established companies must empower different teams to manage and conduct reinvention efforts within their organisations. Once they have stumbled upon a successful product, then they can transfer it to an execution team to perfect, refine and replicate. These are different modes of being, thinking and measuring.