Bring "David" on your corporate innovation team

As global corporations try to remain competitive in an ecosystem with smaller and nimbler players, it reminds me of the David vs Goliath story - as it was David who brought a "sling" to a fight that usually was fought with swords and shields and won. Sustaining innovation needs firms to keep thinking about what the next "sling" is. The Fintech industry is a great example of this. A number of large financial services firms are staring down the barrel of getting disrupted by technology enabled start-ups (much like David) that have a fresher perspective at an established business model (Goliath).

A few months ago, while advising a firm on their innovation strategy, we discussed an interesting proposition. The proposition entailed getting a set of external entrepreneurs, sometimes from a totally different industry, on to your corporate innovation team. While there were multiple mechanisms of incentive / compensation / confidentiality that had to be worked through, the firm found significant success in the model driven by diversity of perspective. The firm is now considering nominating one of the "brightest" entrepreneurs on their board!!

I'd say think about getting "David" on your corporate innovation team!

#Innovation #Strategy