Strategy & Governance

Highlights from June on Anticipating “The New Normal”

Stop Trying to ‘Bounce Back’ to Normal

Can COVID Actually Turbocharge Parts of the Economy? This VC Says Yes

Highlights from May on Pivoting — and Planning for a Reopening

An Ambidextrous Approach to Innovation Has Never Been More Important

Highlights from June on Anticipating “The New Normal”
Stop Trying to ‘Bounce Back’ to Normal
Can COVID Actually Turbocharge Parts of the Economy? This VC Says Yes
Highlights from May on Pivoting — and Planning for a Reopening
An Ambidextrous Approach to Innovation Has Never Been More Important

Innovation groups often get created by fiat, before they’ve developed a strategy. And many companies have existing R&D or product development organizations that would benefit from fresh thinking about their mission.

Whether you’re laying out strategy for the first time, or as part of an update process, our coverage allows you to learn from veterans of innovation and R&D roles. A good resource to start with is our Benchmarking Report, published in collaboration with KPMG, which includes data on the structure, focus, budgets, and size of innovation teams at large companies, as well as advice from executives in senior innovation and strategy roles.

How Innovation Allows Wayfair to Keep Growing

Wayfair, an online furniture and home goods retailer, maintained an innovative culture as it grew from a two person operation to a company with thousands of employees.

Veteran Disney Exec: 5 Things That Impact Innovation

“Any step a company takes to foster innovation is praise-worthy,” says Marty Yudkovitz, formerly of The Walt Disney Company. “But…a lot of what is going on…is window dressing.”

At Kaiser Permanente, a Major Moment for Telemedicine

During this global pandemic, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff are spending long hours saving lives. To protect both healthcare workers and patients, hospitals have shifted most non-emergency appointments to the digital realm. Prat Vemana, the first-ever Chief Digital Officer at Kaiser Permanente, discusses the shift to telehealth and other changes ...

SNHU’s Paul LeBlanc on Higher Ed in a Time of Intense Change

Paul LeBlanc, President of Southern New Hampshire University, discusses how colleges are managing the shift to online education and adapting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Every Online Event We’re Hosting

We have a really simple aim: to put on the best virtual events on the Internet. Here’s what is coming up, both for members and non-members.

Working from Home: Seven Tips for Doing It Productively

Christian Ponce from LogMeIn shares tips to help teams effectively innovate from home, stay connected, and balance their jobs and home lives.

Research Report

Benchmarking Innovation Impact 2018

Innovating inside large organizations is not easy. So how do you deliver concrete, tangible impact — over the short-term, medium-term, and long-term? Innovation Leader and KPMG have collaborated to create the go-to resource on corporate innovation, based on detailed survey data and interviews with senior executives at Whirlpool, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Southern Company, General Motors, and more.

Audio & Video Resources

What Comes Back and When? Exploring Life After COVID-19

What’s changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic? What’s likely to come back? And when? Innovation Leader’s ”What the Future Looks Like” report seeks to answer that question.

Pulling Back the Curtain on Disney’s Storied Imagineering Department

What can you learn from the creative cultures of Walt Disney Imagineering and Pixar? Leslie Iwerks, a documentary filmmaker, has made films about both organizations. She shares what she observed in this replay of “One Quick Thing.” Iwerks is joined on the show by two unnanounced guests: her father, Don Iwerks, who worked directly with Walt Disney, and a former Disney Imagineer, Josh Wachman.

How R&D Keeps the CPG Industry on the Cutting-Edge

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) describes any product that requires routine replacement — from personal care to food. No matter the item, companies in this space have to create new offerings that shoppers will buy again and again. To find out how big bets empower the process, we talked to Ranjani ...

The Secrets to Success at Intuit’s Lean Startup Program

In this episode of One Quick Thing, Bennett Blank shares how Intuit’s Lean Startup program generated $20 million in new revenue.

Podcast: Why Corporate Innovators are Like Pirates in the Navy

In this installment of Innovation Answered: Essentials, Tendayi Viki offers a look at his most recent book and discusses the importance of the “privateer” attitude.

IDEO on Practicing Empathy & Running Sprints from Home

How can we make our food supply chain more resilient? What are the best practices for running an engaging virtual sprint? How can teams redesign their offices to make them safe for employees? In this video replay of The Solution Set, Owen Rogers, Melanie Bell-Mayeda, and Carl Fudge of IDEO answer these questions and more. Throughout the conversation, the trio share how design thinking can unlock innovation and solve challenges during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Enabling Innovation During a Crisis at MassGeneral Brigham

In this episode of One Quick Thing, Chris Coburn discusses working to improve healthcare during a pandemic and the role of digital innovation in this crisis.

Leading Innovation Through Times of Change

How can you get operations leaders to think further into the future when constructing a strategy? How do you manage the transition to business unit ownership, so innovations don’t die on the vine? Ned Calder and Rob Bell of Innosight answer those questions and more during the most recent Solution Set webcast.

Building a Strategy for the Low Touch Economy

The era after COVID-19 will have an economy shaped by new habits and regulations. Find out how behaviors will shift and what new opportunities are emerging.

Navigating Shifts in Reader Behavior at Dow Jones

When looking for updates on the impacts of coronavirus, many have turned to news publications for information. Edward Roussel of Dow Jones discusses the changes.

How Changemakers Innovate Within Government Agencies

Innovators in the public and private sectors face many of the same challenges: There’s resistance to change and internal politics that can bog down progress. However, teams in the government may have tighter budgets that come directly from tax payer dollars. These teams also face demands from both supervisors and ...

How the Red Cross is Adapting to New Demands — and Getting More Digital

At Innovation Leader’s recent nonprofit forum, two innovation leaders from The Red Cross in the US and UK address how they are responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

What Corporate Venture Funds can Learn From VCs

What are the risks when large companies dive into the venture capital game? How are venture teams responding to challenges posed by COVID-19? All that and more in this episode…