You may have seen the surprise announcement on March 15, 2018 by Dietmar Exler, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA that the German automaker will open a global innovation lab in metro Atlanta to dream up new products and businesses. The stated objective of the lab is to fast track projects and services from design to market.
Dietmar Exler joins executives from well over 20 global companies who in recent years have established innovation centers in Atlanta including GE, NCR, Home Depot, Honeywell, and Anthem and General Motors.
These actions underscore the realization by these companies that innovation does not just happen, it must be led from the top.
This was further illustrated by what Axel Harries, Mercedes Vice President of Product Management and Sales said that they wanted to tap into Atlanta’s ecosystem of startups, entrepreneurs, universities and tech talent and to “go after promising ideas wherever they come from, internally or externally.”
Additionally, Mercedes-Benz plan intends to endow the lab with venture capital-type capabilities for pursuing ideas or businesses outside the company they may want to acquire or partnership with. Harries said the overall goal is “to give our customers convenient, intuitive products and services that make their lives and personal mobility easier” and to “turn our entire industry upside-down”.
Why Is This Important?
The Significance of Announcements Like This
Actions like this are noteworthy because industry leading organizations know that to stay relevant and competitive they must fully embrace innovation. This is crucial because various studies have shown that innovation is essential to the growth, profitability, and more importantly, the sustainability of any company.
In a competitive, dynamic world the success and survival of an organization depends on innovation. But this innovation must be led from the top.
But what does innovation leadership look like?
A “Face” is Necessary to Empower and Release Innovation
Innovation initiatives without an identifiable leader do not succeed. Studies show that without a “face” to ignite innovation, people do not become fully engaged with it. Someone at the top of the entity needs to be the champion of innovation.
Leadership of innovation does make a difference, potentially a big difference in the generation of viable new products and new ideas. A study by West, Borrill, Dawson, and Brodbeck found health care organizations suffered when they lacked an identifiable innovation leader.
Forbes’ #1 Rated Innovative Company – SalesForce.com
A good example of being a champion of innovation is Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of SalesForce.com, consistently ranked as Forbes’ #1 rated innovative company. Benioff sets and communicates the company’s broad vision, values, and measurements to be attained. Then he provides the resources to accomplish the goals and gets out of the way by giving his personnel maximum flexibility and empowerment to figure it out and make it happen. This is an example of innovation leadership.
Another example of innovation leadership is Richard Branson, who in 1984 at age 34 formed innovative Virgin Atlantic Airways, then shortly thereafter launched Virgin Mobile. He has displayed a consistent track record of innovation leadership for over 30 years, including a space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, and has recently announced plans to build an orbital space launch system, LauncherOne, by one of his companies, Virgin Orbit.
On top of leading the above innovations, just last week Richard Branson announced the progress it was making in the development of “Boom”, its 21st Century version of the Concorde that will provide worldwide, regular passenger supersonic air travel at 1,451mph (Mach 2.2), thus allowing one to travel from New York to London in three and a half hours.
The Entire Leadership and Management Team Needs to Embrace Innovation
While innovation leadership must start at the top of a company to empower its personnel it must be replicated and fully evidenced in its entire leadership and management team. However, innovation leadership cannot just be empty words or a pat on the back that says, “Okay, guys this is what I want you to do,” while the leadership team sits on the sidelines with little or no involvement. Successful innovation requires the commitment of time, money, and engaged leadership that backs up the words being spoken.
To be effective innovation proponents leaders throughout the firm should see themselves as “servant leaders,” inspiring and equipping others in the organization to achieve the goals of the company. They should also develop a sense of community in which people want to contribute their skill sets, unique experiences and expertise, thereby creating innovation that can make a difference in their customers’ lives.
Proper innovation leadership produces creativity in the workplace, which has an energizing effect on personnel that in turn sustains an innovation program.
Effective Innovation Leadership Includes Providing the Necessary Resources
Finally, to successfully innovate, a company’s leadership must commit the necessary resources to follow up and follow through on new ideas. Studies have shown the difference between top- and bottom-performing organizations in terms of innovation is that the firm’s personnel know they will be provided the resources to accomplish the vision.
A first step you can take to start in leading your organization down the path of innovation is in your next company meeting or newsletter become the face of innovation in your organization. You can do this by explaining that innovation is crucial in your company and necessary to survive and thrive in the 21st century.
Then back that up by assuring your personnel that you will be providing the necessary resources and tools to make the desired innovation a reality and that your entire leadership and management team fully supports the goal to fully embrace innovation in your organization.
If you need assistance with fleshing out the proper leadership of innovation within your company, please contact us using the below information so we can be a resource to you in this critical area.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17 years, we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive, and systematic FastTrak Innovation Program™, Innovation Academy™, and Structure of Success™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century enterprise.
Office phone: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
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