An inconvenient truth about transformational innovation

...if you want to innovate something really transformational youd better be in an organisation thats designed to support, not merely tolerate, someone as challenging as Steve Jobs, otherwise forget it.
SIMON RUCKER Head of Strategy at Seymourpowell Reading Walter Issacsons biography of Steve Jobs over Christmas I was struck by many things. But having finished the book, what lingered was the realisation that if you want to innovate something really transformational youd better be in an organisation thats designed to support, not merely tolerate, someone as challenging as Jobs, otherwise forget it. I know that many of you reading that last sentence will have automatically reached for your mental lexicon of modern innovation thinking. No Simon, youll be saying, thats not how it works these days: its all about flat structures; empathy; co-creation you know the stuff. But are you sure? It may make the process more pleasant, more fun, but I also think its a recipe for being an innovation also-ran. And before I get a torrent of success stories to show me how wrong I am the results of nice innovation processes Im not talking about incremental stuff; Im talking about the sort of big, bold, necessary innovations that issues around globalisation and sustainability are demanding from us now. I struggle to think of any examples that were engendered by fairness, politeness and generally getting along with everybody.
Confidential. Seymour Powell Limited, 2012. All rights reserved.

I cant help thinking that Steve Jobs, had he not sadly passed away, could have turned his hand to many other things beyond the production of beguiling consumer electronics and digital content. He might have applied his considerable talents to household appliances, or FMCG, or cars in fact any category that exists in the intersection of technology and human needs.

whilst this modern work culture supports the gentle evolution of the status quo... it stifles the necessary disruption of transformational innovation.

Ironically anybody in charge of innovation in these areas always seems to kick-off an initiative with a variation on: We want to be the Apple/ iPod/ iPhone of xxx. But whenever I hear people invoking the spirit of Apple, it always brings to mind the Irish joke, well, if thats where you want to go, I wouldnt start from here The reality is that neither Jobs uncompromising management style, nor the sort of unconventional processes he used at Apple to re-define the music, personal computer and phone industries would survive long in most organisations today, let alone receive the sort of support that would allow them to thrive.

But why?
I think the reason can be found in the cultures that predominate in big organisations. The last 30 years have been pretty good to them. The recipe for success during that period consisted in most cases of maintaining a status quo in the face of manageable and predictable change. Not surprisingly those organisations have been structured, staffed and run with stability, efficiency and (gradual) optimisation in mind, though the latter has always been shot through with a large amount of risk aversion.

...the lack of a singular, visionary and frankly autocratic someone in charge is one of the biggest reasons why transformational initiatives lose focus...
The resulting processes, perspectives and values (all articulated and reinforced by generous helpings of management theory) have become deeply embedded in our understanding of how work should be. Innovation practice (and theory), being a subset of that, has been similarly influenced. But whilst this modern work culture supports the gentle evolution of the status quo and makes organisations nicer, more efficient places to work, it stifles the necessary disruption of transformational innovation. The fact is that even with the challenges of accelerating and increasingly unpredictable change, many organisations still have too much to lose to let the necessary flux, dissent and dangerous ideas of the transformational innovation process loose. And for those organisations whose core businesses are unwell think Sony, or indeed any of Japans major electronics groups; think the music industry; think Motorola even they cant seem to take their medicine. I think the pervasiveness of the nicely-nicely work culture has a lot to do with it. And similarly, it acts to slow and obfuscate the transformational innovation process because it thinks work should be fun, inclusive and nice. It recoils at the difficult situations, demands and emotions that it throws up.

...we realise that the process of getting to the best answer, decision or solution is painful. It requires a robust constitution and thick skin; a belief in something bigger...
Confidential. Seymour Powell Limited, 2012. All rights reserved.

We have a saying in my team (a paraphrase of a slogan most recently used by the Conservative party in the UK), Yes it hurts. Yes it works! It means that we realise that the process of getting to the best answer, decision or solution is painful. It requires a robust constitution and thick skin; a belief in something bigger than simply a desire to climb the greasy pole/ make a quick buck/ just be seen to do something; and dogged persistence (Edison always said that it was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration). In fact there is a lot of similarity between Messrs Jobs and Edison (one of the most prolific innovators ever). Some of the latters less well-known characteristics included insisting on having the final say, ruthlessly taking credit for and ownership of other peoples work and regularly driving his Menlo Park employees to breaking point. In other words, he was also a challenging personality, albeit an extremely charismatic one. It probably helped that he was the boss. Sound familiar? Ive been advising organisations on transformational innovation for a decade now and in my opinion, the lack of a singular, visionary and frankly autocratic someone in charge is one of

the biggest reasons why transformational initiatives lose focus, become lowest, rather than highest, common denominator and ultimately founder. But the fact is, todays nicely-nicely work culture reacts to people like Mr Jobs the same way a healthy bodys immune system does with foreign bodies or pathogens. It neutralises or drives them out. Steve Jobs clearly wasnt the easiest of people to work with. But he was the sort of brilliant, visionary, entrepreneurial individual organisations need, now more than ever. The real challenge for organisations trying to innovate transformationally is not about having better insights, or IP; its providing the type of structure, resources, governance and culture that actually enable the Jobses of the world to do what theyre great at. And that is a transformation that most modern organisations are seemingly unable to make.

To find out more please contact Tim Duncan - tim.duncan@seymourpowell.com

Confidential. Seymour Powell Limited, 2012. All rights reserved.