Rocket Science & Beyond
I was discussing innovation with CEO of a fortune 500 company recently in an informal meeting. As we were discussing, he mentioned that they have hired a named consulting company recently for implementing enterprise wide risk management system in their organization using latest control frameworks. He mentioned that there is no Rocket Science involved and consultants are just creating some kind of laundry list of risks, controls, activities and tasks and then plotting them in various fashions. It was apparent that he was not happy with the consulting project going on in his company but was not sure what was lacking.
I mentioned to him that as per recent survey by IBM on innovation , many of CEOs' top obstacles are within their own control. It is apparent that the majority of issues reside somewhere inside their own organizations. Culture, budget, people, process and technology were cited as some of the most significant hurdles. For CEOs, this is a classic case of good news as well as bad news. Because the issues are internal, CEOs have more control over them. However, these hurdles compound the challenges CEOs face.
Leading organizations to be more innovative is becoming more and more difficult. As massive change bears down on CEOs' organizations, their employees, stockholders and Boards are growing increasingly impatient for results. And when those results are not forthcoming, consequences can be severe. And, these are reflected in high turnover of CEOs in past few years.
He told that he might leave the job by the year end and may start his own entrepreneurial business. We debated on the issue for some time and then we started talking about business and technology integration which we both thought is of great importance. He told me there are lots of gaps in integration which are frustrating and he wanted to improve, but didn't know how to do it and found the task too complicated.
For adding humor to this serious discussion, I said you now need to employ something which involves Rocket Science. What is Rocket Science? With a spark in his eyes he said let us create a background to explain the term within the business context. When your mission is to reach other part of the continent in few hours, you faced with a force called turbulence approaching the speed of sound. Solution is to understand the science of aerodynamics and streamlining. Using the same principle, the business world has streamlined its business processes. When your mission is moon or mars, you are faced with powerful centrifugal force called gravity of the Earth. You need to escape this force and to achieve an escaping velocity you need to know the Rocket Science.
Innovation is not just about challenging the existing but beyond. What if you mission is to reach other galaxies within different time space and dimensions and you need to approach the speed of light or tachyon. This is even beyond the Rocket Science.
Globalization and technology advances are lifting competition to new heights, while creating unprecedented opportunities to differentiate. Financial markets are demanding ever-faster growth. Growth and perhaps even survival depends on innovation. Similar to implementing a corporate strategy, becoming more innovative means making deliberate choices filtering the plethora of options you have as a CEO and concentrating on those few actions that can truly make a difference.
I mentioned to him that as per recent survey by IBM on innovation , many of CEOs' top obstacles are within their own control. It is apparent that the majority of issues reside somewhere inside their own organizations. Culture, budget, people, process and technology were cited as some of the most significant hurdles. For CEOs, this is a classic case of good news as well as bad news. Because the issues are internal, CEOs have more control over them. However, these hurdles compound the challenges CEOs face.
Leading organizations to be more innovative is becoming more and more difficult. As massive change bears down on CEOs' organizations, their employees, stockholders and Boards are growing increasingly impatient for results. And when those results are not forthcoming, consequences can be severe. And, these are reflected in high turnover of CEOs in past few years.
He told that he might leave the job by the year end and may start his own entrepreneurial business. We debated on the issue for some time and then we started talking about business and technology integration which we both thought is of great importance. He told me there are lots of gaps in integration which are frustrating and he wanted to improve, but didn't know how to do it and found the task too complicated.
For adding humor to this serious discussion, I said you now need to employ something which involves Rocket Science. What is Rocket Science? With a spark in his eyes he said let us create a background to explain the term within the business context. When your mission is to reach other part of the continent in few hours, you faced with a force called turbulence approaching the speed of sound. Solution is to understand the science of aerodynamics and streamlining. Using the same principle, the business world has streamlined its business processes. When your mission is moon or mars, you are faced with powerful centrifugal force called gravity of the Earth. You need to escape this force and to achieve an escaping velocity you need to know the Rocket Science.
Innovation is not just about challenging the existing but beyond. What if you mission is to reach other galaxies within different time space and dimensions and you need to approach the speed of light or tachyon. This is even beyond the Rocket Science.
Globalization and technology advances are lifting competition to new heights, while creating unprecedented opportunities to differentiate. Financial markets are demanding ever-faster growth. Growth and perhaps even survival depends on innovation. Similar to implementing a corporate strategy, becoming more innovative means making deliberate choices filtering the plethora of options you have as a CEO and concentrating on those few actions that can truly make a difference.
That day in evening, I was again reading the final paragraphs of the survey by IBM on innovation :
Has your innovation agenda expanded beyond products/services/markets innovation and operational improvement to encompass your business model, the emerging basis for competition? How much of your innovation is bold versus routine? How would your business model be different if you started with a clean sheet of paper? What would you do if you were getting into your current business as a start-up? What capabilities do you have that might fundamentally change the value chain in another industry? Do you continuously explore new technologies that could change your business? Is technological change an input to your strategy development process?
I wanted to add one more question: Can you think of something which involves Rocket Science and beyond?
Labels: Best Practices, Innovation
posted by Narayan Mantri at
1:23 PM
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