The Year Ahead Program I Keynote
IDEA BEHIND INNOVATION
The CEO of Philips Innovation Campus talks about the culture that drives great innovations and what you need to do to tackle change management issues in 2010. NAME: ALEXIUS COLLETTE ORGANIZATION: PHILIPS INNOVATION cAmPUS HOBBY: HIKING, PLAYING SQUASH
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins said, “Good is the enemy of great. And that’s one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.” He is right. It is easy to go from bad to good, but from good to great is difficult. Life is about experiences, and bracing yourself for the unexpected. I feel the same about innovation. Meaningful innovations are those that can bring the right solutions at the right time and at the right cost. In business terms, innovation is about raking in profits. I invest in innovation because it helps me meet the business objective of making more money.
have our competence, and others have theirs. Let’s not get into this game of finding who is better. So, in 2010, identify your competence, and focus on it, and get rid of those which others are better at. At Philips, we have embraced a culture driven by competence and discipline. We can articulate our user's needs, simply because we’ve spent extensive time with them. Team Game: Innovation is the result of teamwork. While working in a team, it is important to remember that each member of your team is at a different maturity level. If you want to innovate successfully, you should know where you and your partners are placed in the maturity ladder. When you’re at step two, look where your partner is, and where you as a team want to be. Only collaboration and partnership can help you get to the top of that ladder. Innovation is not about just one great idea; it is the collaboration of competencies. Take for example, we used
INNoVATIoN IS NoT SoMETHINGYoU Do oN A FRIDAYAFTERNooN; IT SHoUlD BE EMBEDDED IN YoUR EVERYDAYPRoCESSES. Apart from that, innovation, especially in the coming year, should be customer driven. I feel that IT leaders do not always understand their customer’s needs. To do that, CIOs need to step out of their offices and spend time with their users. It is also important to realize that people’s needs are not the same across the world. Take the Nano for instance. It is a perfect example of a good innovation that connects with the needs of the Indians. If you want a lot of people to drive a car in India, you’ve got to focus on cost reduction. The Nano was an innovation, forced by the needs of the end users. Let's take a closer look at innovation: Culture of Innovation: Innovation is not something you do on a Friday afternoon; it should be embedded in your everyday processes. It is about identifying your competence and leveraging the best possible solution out of it. If you don’t believe that you can do something better than your competitors, don’t invest in it. We 84
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to have three models of shavers but they were made for the same purpose. We were looking for one perfect design. What did I do? I got five people from five different teams and locked them up for a week in a room. The results were amazing. They brainstormed and came up with one spectacular product. That is real innovation. Getting Buy-in: As a leader, you need to convince the business. For instance, my team is the ambassador of innovation and my job as the innovation leader is to open the doors of the senior management to my team. But to be successful, it is also my responsibility to convince top management that my team can achieve what it has set out to achieve. And to do that, you need to get your priorities right and align them with that of the business. If your CEO has a different vision than yours, you’d be wasting your time. In the new year, spend time analyzing your stakeholders, those you need to convince, and those who are your supporters.
Vol/5 | ISSUE/02
12/12/2009 11:25:45 PM