CIO OPINION pushes decision making as close to the front line as possible in order to avoid senior leadership bottlenecks .
Creating such a culture calls for developing an ambidextrous organisational paradigm that finds chemistry between the evolution of the original business and the revolution of new ones , between scale and speed , between productivity and creativity . Innovation vehicles
C-suites need to move their operational model away from a focus on building a linear , structured , and welloiled machine . Instead , they should move toward a flexible model enabled by systems thinking , meaning a holistic analysis of the broader impact that one innovation decision can have internally and externally .
This helps ensure that various innovation activities , both internal efforts , such as building digital infrastructure , and external ones focused , for example , on customers or exploring VC trends , are interconnected .
The new operating model should dictate how innovation vehicles are chosen , and that choice should not be made without considering the venture ecosystem or consumer insights . The precursor to this is aligning on specific investable themes to ensure that teams diligently and succinctly explore businessmodel or technology innovations that unlock the right opportunities for the company .
Democratisation of ideation
Employees , clients , and other stakeholders all can be valuable sources of innovation ideas . Such democratised innovation can help ensure that new growth engines are relevant for employees ; it also fosters their involvement , while capitalising on inhouse experts ’ understanding of specific markets and technologies . Company leaders can identify specific challenges for which they would like to hear employee feedback .
Corporate venturing teams also can learn from the data revolution when investing in a venture . However , in light of pervasive , imperfect information and algorithmic biases , they will still need to lean on empathetic relationship building and qualitative consumer insights .
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