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Placing Bets Without Burning Bridges

August 16, 2023
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In our recent webcast, David Matheson of SmartOrg and Udi Chatow of Applied Materials discussed how innovators can more readily gain buy-in for their initiatives from leadership throughout the organization. Alex Slawsby, InnoLead’s Chief Growth Officer, moderated the discussion. 

Matheson and Chatow explained how innovators can overcome internal skepticism; the ways to identify proper fit for the market and opportunity at hand; and growing initial ideas while addressing financial questions and concerns from the organization at large. 

“There are three broad findings to how to place a bet without burning a bridge,” Matheson said. “One is to find your innovation blind spots. Often, people charge ahead and don’t answer the key question that needs to be answered. Second, is speak the language of finance. Too much innovation avoids financial thinking, and there’s a dodgy relationship between finance and innovation… Give them something they can work with, and change up the financial approach so that it actually works for innovation. And lastly, is [to] derisk effectively. … You’ve got to get really clear about what most needs de-risking — and what the innovator needs to do, versus what the core organization can handle.”

You can download Matheson and Chatow’s slides below.

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