Why Innovation Should Be an Ongoing Strategy

Many organizations approach innovation the way they approach budgeting or operations. They create roadmaps, timelines, and committees designed to produce breakthroughs on schedule. But the history of technology suggests something different. Most meaningful innovations do not arrive neatly on a calendar. They appear unexpectedly. A new idea. A technical breakthrough. A surprising connection between two things that previously seemed unrelated. The real challenge is making sure your organization is ready when those moments appear. The companies and institutions that consistently innovate tend to invest early in talent and technical capability. They build cultures where experimentation is encouraged and where people are willing to test new ideas. They maintain the flexibility to pursue unexpected opportunities and move quickly when promising ideas appear. Innovation rarely begins as a fully formed plan. More often it begins as a possibility that only a few people recognize at first. The advantage goes to the organizations that have prepared themselves to recognize that moment and act on it. You may not be able to schedule inspiration. But you can build teams, systems, and cultures that are ready when it shows up. #SchmidtSights

Far too often, I see leaders and companies move on from innovation, believing it's only necessary during the startup phase. In reality, it's what keeps companies alive and thriving. As companies grow, it's easy to fall into routine and let creativity fade. But innovation must continue-even as you scale. An older HBR article I came across this morning highlights how breakthroughs in management can create lasting advantages that are hard to replicate. Companies focused only on new products or efficiency often get quickly copied. To stay ahead, businesses must become "serial management innovators," always seeking new ways to transform how they operate. This idea remains as relevant now as it was back then. The benefits of sustained innovation are undeniable: •Competitive Edge •Increased Revenue •Customer Satisfaction •Attracting Talent •Organizational Growth and Employee Retention Embrace the innovation lifecycle-adapting creativity as your organization matures. Sustaining creativity means creating an environment where people feel safe to push boundaries. Encourage your teams to think big, take risks, and use the experience of your organization. Here are three strategies that I’ve seen work firsthand: Make Experimentation a Priority: Mistakes are part of the process—they help us learn, grow, and innovate. As leaders, share your own experiences with risk-taking, talk about what you've learned, and celebrate those who take bold steps, even when things don’t go as planned. It sends a powerful message: it's okay to take risks. Promote Intrapreneurship: Many of the best ideas come from those closest to the work. Encourage your people to think like entrepreneurs. Give them ownership, the tools they need, and the freedom to explore. Whether it’s through ‘innovation sprints’ or dedicated time for passion projects, showing your team that their creativity matters sustains momentum. Address big challenges, ask tough questions, and let your people feel empowered to tackle them head-on. Break Down Silos: True innovation happens when people connect across departments. Create opportunities for cross-functional interactions-through gatherings, open forums, or spontaneous connections. Diverse perspectives lead to game-changing solutions, and breaking down silos opens the door to that kind of synergy. Innovation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires dedication, a commitment to growth, and a willingness to challenge what’s always been done. To all the leaders out there: How are you ensuring your teams remain creative and engaged? What strategies have you found that create space for bold ideas within structured environments? —-- Harvard Business Review, "The Why, What, and How of Management Innovation" #Innovation #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #Creativity #BusinessGrowth #Intrapreneurship #CrossFunctionalCollaboration #ImpactLab

We often talk about innovation as if it is one big idea that changes everything. In practice, it rarely works that way. The companies that lead in technology built structures, habits, and operating systems that make innovation repeatable. They created processes that turn small improvements into lasting advantage. Here are a few examples and what they suggest. Take Google. They built internal infrastructure that made product development faster. MapReduce enabled data processing at scale. TensorFlow began as an internal ML framework before it was open sourced. When internal systems are strong, every team builds faster and more effectively. Or consider Netflix. Its “freedom and responsibility” model was not branding. It was operational design. By reducing approval layers and distributing decision making, it increased speed without collapsing into chaos. When decisions move quickly, innovation becomes continuous. Stripe approached the problem differently. Before Stripe, integrating payments required heavy documentation, compliance overhead, and complex APIs. Stripe’s contribution was clarity through clean APIs, better documentation, and faster integration. Across these companies, innovation did not come from isolated breakthroughs. It came from: – clear strategic intent – tight feedback loops – high talent density – platform leverage – willingness to adapt Innovation is the result of testing ideas, reinforcing effective behaviors, and building systems that learn over time. It emerges when constraints are rethought. That is how innovation becomes repeatable.

Innovation within an organization is tough—it doesn’t just happen by accident. You have to be intentional about how you collect and apply insights, whether they come from market research, customer feedback, or even new R&D in areas outside your core market. The real challenge lies in figuring out how to take those insights and spread them throughout the rest of the organization in a way that drives meaningful change. At ZoomInfo Labs, one of our core frameworks is built around this very idea. Our job isn’t just to innovate in a vacuum. 1/ It's about going out into the market. 2/ Listening to our customers. 3/ Exchanging best practices. We want to hear what’s working for them, what isn’t, and how they’re going to market alongside us. But here’s the key: it’s not enough just to gather these insights. We need to bring them back into our organization and use them to drive real progress. That could mean pushing our product innovation and roadmap forward, or it could mean applying those insights to fuel our own internal go-to-market strategies. At the end of the day, what we’re really doing is creating a continuous loop—an innovation flywheel. We gather insights from the market, feed them into our product development, and then use those improved products to deliver even more value back to the market. It’s a constant cycle of innovation, ensuring that we’re always improving both for our customers and for ourselves. The takeaway? Innovation isn’t a one-time event; it’s an ongoing process. You need to keep that flywheel spinning, making sure that you’re delivering maximum value to your customers while constantly evolving in response to what you learn from them. That’s how you stay ahead—by ensuring that every insight, every piece of feedback, and every bit of innovation gets fed back into the system to create something even better. 💡 How are you doing this at your organization today?

When uncertainty looms, innovation teams are at risk of being on CFO’s chopping block. Most recently, I joined a half-day roundtable with an outstanding group of corporate innovators, convened by Peter Temes at the ILO Institute during which we tackled this pressing reality and paradox: Companies invest in innovation during good times... but they NEED it most during uncertain ones. This plays out in two ways: 🚫 The First Camp: Slashes innovation budgets at the first sign of trouble. "We’ll restart when things stabilize," they promise. By the time stability returns, competitors have already leapt ahead. 🤦♂️ The Second Camp: Keeps innovation teams intact—but strangles their impact. ROI on experiments must be immediate. Quarterly returns on long-term bets. Zero tolerance for the failures that actually drive learning. I’ve seen both—sometimes inside the same company. The result? Innovation teams lose morale. The best talent disengages—or walks. Stakeholders pull support. A "one-and-done" mindset kills promising ideas before they can grow. 💡 Look at financial services. They came late to the internet, mobility, and social media. Now they’re risking the same mistake with AI, ceding direct customer relationships to fintechs and risking relegation to utility status. Why does this cycle persist? Because the short-term savings of cutting innovation are immediately visible. The long-term catastrophe is invisible... until it's too late. 🔥 Here’s how to keep innovation alive when budgets tighten: 1️⃣ Dramatically lower the cost of individual experiments 2️⃣ Prioritize customer-backed innovation for real-time feedback 3️⃣ Create distributed innovation networks across the org 4️⃣ Speed up cycles by challenging slow status quo processes 5️⃣ Position innovation as risk management, NOT risk-taking ⏳ Don’t let uncertainty kill your company’s future. The best organizations don’t innovate despite uncertainty. They innovate because of it. 🚀 Innovation isn’t a luxury—it’s a lifeline. Julie F., Alex Trotta, Miles Garrett, Andy Grove, Anthony Di Bitonto, Kate Pomeroy (née Stubbs) #innovation #leadership #learning

Annual planning cycles are like using a typewriter in the age of smartphones - outdated and inefficient. While markets evolve at breakneck speed and customer needs shift like quicksand, many businesses still cling to rigid yearly plans that can't keep pace. This mismatch between static planning and dynamic realities often leaves organizations lagging behind, struggling to innovate, and missing critical opportunities. It's time for a change. Imagine a product team excitedly launching a new feature, only to realize three months later that the market has shifted, rendering their carefully planned innovation less relevant. Or picture a marketing department stuck with an outdated campaign because the annual plan didn't account for a sudden change in consumer behavior. These scenarios play out in businesses every day, highlighting the limitations of traditional planning cycles. Continuous strategy deployment offers an alternative approach. Unlike traditional annual planning, it allows for real-time adjustments based on current data and market conditions. While we still hold true to long term visions, being able to change tactics as feedback is obtained enables organizations to adapt their strategies quickly, ensuring they remain aligned with evolving business goals and market dynamics. Product Ops governance plays a crucial role in this process. By establishing clear processes, roles, and responsibilities, it ensures all teams are aligned and working towards common objectives. This framework fosters cross-functional communication and breaks down silos, facilitating more efficient decision-making. Consider a company that adopts this approach. Their product team can now pivot quickly when user feedback suggests an unexpected use case for their software. The marketing team can adjust messaging in real-time based on performance data. Leadership can reallocate resources more fluidly as new opportunities arise. The potential benefits of this approach include: 1. Maintaining relevant strategies in rapidly changing markets 2. Improved alignment and communication across teams 3. A culture of continuous improvement and adaptability Moving from annual planning to continuous strategy deployment represents a significant shift in how organizations approach their strategic processes. It requires careful consideration and often, substantial changes to existing structures and practices. What challenges have you encountered with traditional annual planning? How do you think a more continuous approach to strategy could impact your organization? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

In my new article for Harvard Business Review, I examine a familiar challenge: Every established business knows it must innovate to find growth in the digital era. But most efforts—innovation labs, accelerators, hackathons—produce disappointing results. Corporate teams are outrun by startups. Innovation labs are shut down after failing to deliver growth at a scale that matters. Why does this keep happening? And what can be done? In my own research and advising dozens of F500 companies, I’ve repeatedly seen that the root cause of this failure is this: 🔗 The “missing link” between #strategy and #innovation. Corporate innovation cannot begin with blue-sky thinking. It cannot proceed with the independence of a startup. Instead, companies must learn to link every innovation effort to two pillars of strategy: ◾ a clear set of growth priorities ◾ an understanding of the firm’s unique advantages In my article, I illustrate this approach with examples from Walmart, Amazon, and Alibaba.com. And I show how any firm can link its strategy process to its innovation process—from greenlighting to innovation metrics and resource allocation. By doing so, every established business can leverage its own strengths to deliver meaningful growth at scale. ▶ READ the ARTICLE: https://lnkd.in/eYvu-evg

Here's a principle that changes everything about innovation: Customer "jobs-to-be-done" are stable over time. Solutions change. Understanding this is the foundation of scientific innovation. Let me explain: THE JOB: "Listen to music while on the go" This job has existed for decades. It hasn't changed. It won't change. THE SOLUTIONS: 1970s: Walkman (cassette tapes) 1990s: Discman (CDs) 2000s: iPod (MP3 files) 2010s: Spotify (streaming) Each solution became obsolete. The job remained constant. Why this matters for innovation: If you study THE SOLUTION: → You optimize for current technology → Your insights become obsolete → You miss disruptive threats → You're always reacting If you study THE JOB: → You understand timeless customer needs → Your insights remain valid → You see new solution opportunities → You can lead disruption Another example: THE JOB: "Stay informed on topics of interest" THE SOLUTIONS: - Newspapers - Radio - TV news - Cable news - News websites - Social media feeds - News apps The job never changed. But companies studying "how to sell newspapers" went out of business. Companies studying "how to help people stay informed" innovated. The scientific principle: When you define markets around jobs (not products), you create a: - STABLE unit of analysis - CONSISTENT measurement system - PREDICTABLE focal point for innovation This is why we say: "Define your market as a group of people + the job they're trying to get done" Not: "We're in the cassette tape business" "We're in the newspaper business" "We're in the kettle business" Because those solutions will change. But the underlying jobs won't. When you anchor innovation around stable jobs, your insights have a shelf life of decades, not months. Your measurement system doesn't become obsolete. Your understanding compounds over time. Your competitive advantage is sustainable. This is the first principle of scientific innovation: Study what doesn't change. Not what does. Outcome-Driven Innovation.

Most organizations say they want innovation. Fewer are willing to build the appetite required to actually sustain it. Real appetite for innovation isn’t a burst of enthusiasm in a strategy meeting. It’s a long-term commitment to doing things differently, like funding ideas that might not work, protecting time for exploration, and tolerating the discomfort of not having immediate answers. It’s choosing, over and over again, to make space for something new. That’s where things start to break. We try to layer innovation on top of teams that are already operating at (or beyond) full capacity. We ask for bold thinking in environments that quietly reward speed, urgency, and constant output. We say we want experimentation, but only if it doesn’t slow anything down. Wishful thinking. Real appetite requires something most organizations avoid: sustainable pace. Without it, innovation has nowhere to live. Sustainable pace isn’t about lowering the bar or doing less. It’s about building systems that create enough space for better thinking, smarter risks, and more honest conversations. It’s what allows teams to move from reactive execution to intentional creation. The question isn't, “Are we hungry for more, better ideas?” If your organization is serious, the question should be, "Have we created the capacity to support them?" Appetite without capacity doesn’t drive innovation; it burns people out trying.

My problem with the whole “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” thing. You’ve probably heard the old adage more times than you can remember: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The familiar saying resonates with many of us as a guiding principle for maintaining stability and efficiency in our lives and work. After all, why tinker with something that's already functioning smoothly or working adequately well, right? However, in an ever-evolving and ever-changing world, it's essential to recognize that what worked yesterday may not necessarily work tomorrow. The pace of change in technology, markets, and societal norms means that complacency can quickly lead to obsolescence. Great leaders and innovators understand the value of continuous improvement and the need to challenge the status quo. They recognize that even well-established processes, beliefs, and habits warrant periodic review and adjustment. Clinging too rigidly to the notion of "if it ain't broke" can blind us to opportunities for growth and innovation. By embracing a mindset of curiosity and exploration, we open ourselves up to new possibilities and solutions that may have previously been overlooked. It's also worth considering that what appears to be working on the surface may be concealing underlying inefficiencies or missed opportunities. By conducting regular assessments and seeking feedback, we can uncover areas for improvement and refinement, even in systems that seem to be functioning adequately. In essence, the mantra of "if it ain't broke" should not be interpreted as a license for complacency, but rather as a reminder to approach change judiciously. While stability and consistency have their merits, so too does the willingness to question, adapt, and evolve. So, the next time you find yourself tempted to coast on the status quo, consider whether there might be room for improvement or innovation. After all, the pursuit of excellence often requires us to challenge our own assumptions and embrace change, even when things seem to be going well. What do you think?