Strategic Innovation Planning

Is your product at risk of Product Market Fit Collapse? Some companies have been blindsided by customers running to 10x better AI products (Stack Overflow), other companies have moved fast to embrace AI (Adobe), and yet others keeping calm and carrying on (Airbnb). What puts some companies at risk? The "AI Disruption Risk Assessment", created with Brian Balfour and Reforge, is a framework to help you understand and respond to AI disruption risks. The framework evaluates 18 factors across four key areas: Use Case - How will AI impact how users engage with your product? Growth Model - How will AI impact your product’s growth model? Defensibility - How will AI impact your product’s defensibility? Business Model - How will AI impact how your product monetizes? Key insights: 1. AI is diffusing much faster than any previous technology, causing customer expectations to spike nearly instantly. ⏰ 2. Products relying on search traffic and user-generated content face higher risks, while those with direct relationships and human-centered growth loops often find tailwinds. 🌬️ 3. Unique data, emotional engagement, and strong network effects are lasting advantages in the AI era. 🔒 What have you found that is driving disruption and how are smart companies responding? Link to the full post and the assessment tool in the comments below 👇 #AI #Strategy #ProductManagement

Every organization needs to innovate. But what type of innovation to give priority to? This simple matrix with four types of innovation may help. Innovation basically means introducing something new (‘nova’). This “something new” can be anything and that’s where the problem starts. In two ways. - First, by an overemphasis on product (or service) innovation, thereby not giving enough attention to other types - Second, by getting overwhelmed by all the innovation opportunities that are out there. To solve both problems at the same time, it helps to gain some clarity on what types of innovation there are. To that end, I’ve created this simple 2x2 matrix containing what I think are the four most important types of innovation for every organization. Let me first explain the two axes. The first is the inward-outward axis. Outward-oriented innovations are those innovations that are mostly targeted at the market, at doing something new for customers. Inward-oriented innovations, on the other hand, are innovating the organization itself. On the second axis, Operational innovations are typically quite technical and tangible, and focused on the practical work and output. Strategic innovations, on the other hand, regard how the organization is functioning overall and how it creates value. This leads to the following four types of innovation: 1. Product Innovation. The most well-known type of innovation in which you change, improve or renew an organization’s products and/or services, or create new ones. 2. Process Innovation. Often efficiency and quality-driven to improve the way the organization works on a day-to-day basis. This can concern any type of process. 3. Business Model Innovation. A newer type, focused on changing how the organization creates and captures value. Often focused on developing new revenue models. 4. Management Innovation. Less commonly known but critical, this type concerns innovating how an organization is organized, managed, and led. Often implies decentralization. All four types are important and with this matrix you can start managing your innovation portfolio. Ask yourself questions like: Do I have sufficient initiatives in all quadrants? And, which type of innovation should get priority now? [Featured in The Strategic Leadership Playbook. Originally published in June, 2023] More of this? For 63 more tools like this, plus step-by-step instructions for using them, get The Strategic Leadership Playbook. See link in the comment below. #innovationmanagement #processimprovement #productdesign #businessmodel

What truly is a disruptive technology? We throw around the term freely these days to refer to any novel technology that we come across. But not all new technologies actually meet the bar. Michael Porter reminds us that a disruptive technology is one that invalidates important competitive advantages of incumbents, enabling a new entrant to leap ahead in the market. Take the Internet for example. It was disruptive where the mechanism for delivering information was fundamental to the product or service. Like travel agents or the recorded music business. But for many other markets, it wasn't disruptive at all, since it was easy for existing incumbents to simply add it as a new channel for communicating with their customers. As GenAI and LLMs become the latest technology innovation, we should ask ourselves, where will it actually be disruptive? Certainly not a chat bot that any incumbent can easily add on. But maybe in the world of search, where LLMs are finally able to deliver a superior answer, potentially disrupting the ironclad superiority Google has maintained for decades. To decide whether something is disruptive, two questions are helpful: 1) To what extent does the new technology invalidate traditional competitive advantages? 2) To what extent can incumbents embrace the technology without major negative consequences for their business? I have no doubt AI will be a disruptive technology, but think we are only in the first inning of discovering exactly where that disruption will occur.

Part 2: 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀: 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (Part 1: see https://lnkd.in/eNP8ih5Y) (Part 3: see https://lnkd.in/eYAnkeVS) Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework has shaped how managers and academics analyze industries. It remains an elegant way to map the external environment at the industry level. Porter’s view of strategy, however, was forged in an era when industries were stable, boundaries were clear, and competitive advantage was largely internal. The external environment was portrayed as hostile: every force around the firm—suppliers, buyers, new entrants, rivals, and substitutes—was a potential threat to profitability. Strategy was about defending margins, erecting barriers, and capturing value. But today’s reality is far more fluid. Industries blend into one another, technologies converge, and value is co-created across networks. The same actors that once appeared only as adversaries have become indispensable partners for innovation, agility, and growth. Competitors may share platforms; suppliers co-develop technologies; customers co-create solutions; and substitutes may reveal entirely new markets. If we look at the business world through this new lens, Porter’s five “forces” can also be five “sources” of advantage. Collaboration doesn’t replace competition—it complements it. The real challenge for managers is to find the balance point along a continuum that runs from pure competition to deep collaboration. * Competitors remain rivals, but also potential partners in standard-setting, data sharing, or open-source development. * New entrants are disruptors, but also agile innovators with whom incumbents can partner, invest, or co-develop. * Suppliers can squeeze margins—but when engaged early in design, they become co-innovators. Toyota’s keiretsu model and Unilever’s annual innovation summits with strategic suppliers both show how collaboration can yield efficiency and renewal. * Customers may demand more, but their insights and data now drive innovation. Co-creation platforms—from LEGO Ideas to Tesla’s user forums—turn buyers into creative partners. * Substitutes, once seen only as threats, can signal new opportunities. Netflix, for instance, transformed from a DVD substitute to a platform that redefined how entertainment is consumed. The comparative table below contrasts Porter’s competitive interpretation of each force with a collaborative perspective—a framework better suited when success depends as much on connection as on protection. #Strategy #Innovation #Ecosystems #Collaboration #OpenInnovation #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #BusinessStrategy #MichaelPorter #BlueOceanStrategy #Coopetition #Agility #ValueCreation #Management

What if we reimagined the Double Diamond through the lens of Jobs-to-be-Done? 🤔 Product Management is about mastering various methodologies and knowing when to apply them. No single framework fits all scenarios - the key is understanding how different approaches can complement each other to drive better outcomes. I have been learning and practicing the art and science of Innovation through the concepts of JTBD, Human Centered Design, Design Thinking, Customer Driven Innovation, Continuous Discovery, Product Discovery, Lean, etc., I've found these methodologies aren't just related, they're deeply interconnected pieces of the same puzzle. I took the classic double diamond design thinking framework and applied JTBD to it and here is how it looks in my view. While the double diamond model divides the journey into Problem → Solution spaces, the evolved version speaks the language of jobs and outcomes 💎Left Diamond: Transformed from problem-finding to "Jobs & Outcomes" - focusing on understanding what customers are trying to achieve in their contexts. 🌉The Bridge: "Opportunity Statements" replace "Problem Definition" - shifting from fixing issues to unlocking potential. Opportunity Statements are what Tony Ulwick calls "Hidden Growth Opportunities". These statements guide our innovation direction. 💎Right Diamond: Maintains the Design/Develop and Iterate/Deliver phases, but shifts validation focus to measuring how effectively we enable customers to achieve their desired outcomes. This framework moves beyond problem-solution thinking to create value through deep understanding of customer progress and success metrics in the form of jobs and outcomes. Have you integrated different innovation frameworks in your work? What have you learned? Would love to hear your experiences! #innovation #JTBD #designthinking #productdiscovery

18 Innovation & Sustainability Methodologies  🌎 In the current business landscape, sustainability and innovation are not just complementary; they're inseparably intertwined. Companies are increasingly required to weave environmental stewardship into their fabric while continually innovating to stay competitive. This necessitates a roadmap for integrating sustainability at every stage of the business cycle. The map in question presents a sequential guide to sustainable innovation, categorizing methodologies according to the business development stages they best serve. Each category demands unique approaches and follows distinct steps, ensuring that sustainability is not a standalone concept but a continuous thread throughout the innovation process. Beginning with 'Strategic Fit', the map underscores the need for foundational strategies that define corporate purpose with sustainability at its core. Here, 'Innovation Strategy' and 'Sustainability Strategy' are pivotal, serving as the bedrock for all future development. This stage sets the stage for what follows, ensuring that sustainability is embedded in the DNA of every subsequent decision and innovation. Moving into 'Problem Fit', methodologies such as 'Circular Design' and 'Systems Thinking' come into play, focusing on understanding and redesigning processes and products to minimize waste and optimize resource use. This stage is where theoretical strategies begin to manifest as practical solutions, targeting specific sustainability challenges within the business ecosystem. As solutions begin to crystallize, the 'Solution Fit' phase utilizes approaches like 'Lean Startup' to iteratively develop products that are both market-ready and sustainable. 'Value Proposition Design' ensures that these solutions are not just viable but also desirable, meeting consumer needs with minimal environmental impact. Transitioning to 'Market Fit', the map highlights 'Service Design' and 'Business Model Innovation' as methodologies that fine-tune the value delivery and operational models to align with market expectations and sustainability ambitions. This ensures that the innovation not only resonates with consumers but also adheres to principles of sustainability. The final stretch, 'Scaling', involves methodologies that support the growth of these sustainable innovations. 'Agile Development' allows for rapid scaling of solutions in response to market feedback, while 'Deep Tech Acceleration' embraces cutting-edge technologies to propel businesses forward in a sustainable manner. This strategic map thus serves as a comprehensive guide for businesses to navigate through the stages of innovation, with sustainability as a guiding principle. Source: Explorer Labs #sustainability #sustainable #sdgs #esg #sustainabledevelopment #climatechange 

𝗛𝗕𝗥@𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘃𝗲 — 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘆𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗠. 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻 Christensen (with Bower) uncovers a pattern repeated across industries: leading companies often lose their crown when new waves of technology emerge. Giants like Xerox, Goodyear, and IBM missed the next big thing — not because they lacked talent, but because they stuck too closely to the needs of existing customers. 🧠 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝘀 𝗮 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆? Sustaining technologies improve performance for current customers. Disruptive technologies, by contrast, start off inferior in traditional metrics but are cheaper, simpler, or smaller. These technologies often serve underserved or non-customers at first — a market that incumbents don’t prioritize. Over time, as they improve, they can overtake mainstream markets — displacing well-established players. ⚙️ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗗𝗼 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘃𝗲? 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦-𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘬-𝘪𝘯: Established companies are bound by their existing value networks — their processes, customer base, and profit models — which make emerging, low-margin opportunities less attractive. 𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥: By continually improving products for their best customers, incumbents overshoot what the rest of the market needs, leaving room for simpler, disruptive options. 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴: Modular or strongly function­-oriented teams can lose sight of shifts in product architecture, making it hard to spot disruptive innovations coming “from below.” ✅ 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 & 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵: Give a small, nimble team the freedom to explore disruptive tech outside your core business. 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: Identify markets your customers aren’t serving — gaps that disruptors could fill. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮: Resist the urge to kill low-margin, early-stage projects just because they don’t scale immediately. 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: Encourage cross-functional collaboration so that your organization understands how new architectures could reshape your business. 𝘉𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧: Rather than waiting to be displaced, consider whether your next wave could come from within. ✨ 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 Disruption isn’t just about being innovative — it’s strategic. Great companies don’t just respond to change — they ride the wave. To lead in the next era, you have to tune into what’s coming before it’s obvious. 💬 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 — 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘵?

Every time I reread these four books, I find a new leverage point I couldn't see before. They're not on most startup lists because they're not about startups. That's why they work: 1. Seven Powers by Hamilton Helmer This isn't a "strategy" book in the loose sense. It's an index of durable powers (scale economies, network economies, switching costs, cornered resource, branding, counter-positioning, process power) and when they actually bite. The point isn't growth for its own sake but asymmetric advantage - growth that widens the moat as you scale. Takeaway: Pre product-market fit, only counter-positioning (attacking incumbents with a model they can't copy without self-harm) and cornered resource (exclusive access to something critical) are real. Post product-market fit, scale economies become available. Choose one primary power and kill any project that doesn't reinforce it. 2. Obviously Awesome by April Dunford Positioning is frame control. If you don't set the frame (the category where customers mentally place you), the market will do it for you and you'll be benchmarked on the wrong axis. Dunford gives an operational process for defining your competitive set, value narrative, and the "best-for" claim that makes price comparisons meaningless. Takeaway: Run her 5-step exercise: competitive alternatives → unique attributes → value themes → who cares most → market category. Then rewrite your homepage copy and pricing page to match. 3. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight Phil Knight's memoir about building Nike from selling shoes out of his trunk to a global empire. Don't read it as a hero's journey. Read it as a case study in creative constraints. Knight turned cash scarcity into competitive advantage through the Futures program (getting retailers to commit 5-6 months ahead) and creative financing when banks wouldn't lend. Takeaway: Map your biggest constraint. Turn it into a differentiator. Nike turned cash scarcity into advance retailer commitments that gave them predictable revenue when competitors couldn't. 4. Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows Many leaders optimize parts without seeing the whole. Systems thinking reveals where small changes create cascading effects - like how improving onboarding can paradoxically reduce retention if it brings in users who churn faster. Takeaway: Draw your growth loop as boxes and arrows. Find the one constraint that, if removed, would change everything else. That's your only priority. The best books should be reread at different stages. Each time through Seven Powers, different powers become available. Each time through Obviously Awesome, your positioning gets sharper. What book changed how you make decisions? Not how you think about them - how you actually make them.

There's a quiet identity crisis every Engineering Research & Development (ER&D) GCC in India is living through. Nobody talks about it in the all-hands. But everyone feels it. GCC engineers build a feature that ships globally. HQ takes the credit. Calls it "centralized innovation." The India team gets a "great work" Slack message and a new cost target.  Repeat. Here is what shifted in four years. In 2020-21, the top 10 foreign filers in India submitted 6,003 patent applications between them. By 2024-25, that number hit 9,765. Same group. Four years. 60% more filings. But the number is not the story. Who is filing? Qualcomm has been at this the longest and leads by distance, nearly 3,000 applications in a single year. Nokia and Samsung Electronics are close behind. These are companies that long ago figured out India is not just where you build. It is where you own. Now look at who just showed up. Google. Apple. Mercedes-Benz AG. These are not companies filing patents to defend old products. They are filing to claim territory in new ones. Their presence on this list is a signal, not a statistic. A Hyundai MOBIS ER&D executive said it plainly at the December roundtable with HYSEA's ER&D forum, with Micron, Qualcomm, Carrier, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Eastman Chemical in the room. Patents today are not about protection. They are about market dominance and commercialization. The strategy is not defend and protect. It is build, own, and monetize. That one sentence reframes everything about how you run an ER&D GCC. If your India team is building software, engineering industrial data, and shipping new features without a patent strategy sitting alongside it, you are doing the work and leaving the asset on the table. Speed of innovation gets you to the idea first. The patent makes sure you own it. Who owns the work your GCC built last year? #GCC #Patents #IPStrategy #ERD #IndiaInnovation

Most companies struggle to balance innovation with control. But Robert Simons’ Levers of Control model gives managers a robust framework to do both — without compromise. ☑ Beliefs Systems ↳ These inspire employees with shared purpose. ↳ Mission statements, credos, and value declarations guide behaviour and motivate discretionary effort. ↳ Leaders must consistently reinforce beliefs to align teams with strategic goals. ☑ Boundary Systems ↳ These set the “do not cross” lines. ↳ Clear rules, codes of conduct, and compliance guidelines reduce risk. ↳ They allow freedom within constraints — creativity with guardrails. ☑ Diagnostic Control Systems ↳ The classic performance tools: KPIs, budgets, dashboards. ↳ Used to track progress and course-correct when needed. ↳ Efficient for stable environments where outcomes are measurable. ☑ Interactive Control Systems ↳ These are built for uncertainty and strategic adaptation. ↳ Managers engage teams in problem-solving, testing assumptions, and discovering new opportunities. ↳ Dialogue over directives. Curiosity over control. Here’s why this model matters: ↳It doesn’t pit control against innovation — it shows how to enable both. ↳It equips managers to lead proactively, not just reactively. ↳It allows organisations to scale without losing flexibility and creativity. If you're leading a team or shaping strategy, this framework is worth bookmarking. P.S. If you like content like this, please follow me.