A Tale of 3 CEOs
I’m curious. What type of innovation leader is your CEO?
We have a lot of interaction with senior executives through our work at WAVE, and one of the critical insights we come across, with no surprise, is that a sustainable innovation program starts with leadership vision and alignment.
We have identified three types of leaders when it comes to innovation strategy. I want to introduce you to them. And I ask you to think - which one are you?
Type 1. Using innovation as a buzzword
Some CEOs think it is refreshing to tell people how innovative they want to be and use innovation as a buzzword without a clear accompanying strategy. Coty’s CEO Camillo Pane talked about how they were “acting like a startup” and adopting “a challenger mentality”, but ignored the impact of e-commerce on the beauty industry. A year later, he was no longer CEO.
Type 2. Creating ‘innovation theatre’
Some CEOs believe in symbolic gestures such as visiting Silicon Valley, organising hackathons, building innovation labs, and so on to demonstrate their commitment to innovation. The result is high engagement with short-term enthusiasm, but little value created. Innovation without results can turn into an empty “innovation theatre.” Some analysts have accused GE CEO Jeff Immelt of engaging in “success theatre” by fostering an overly positive culture that discouraged criticism or questioning. He resigned two years ago.
Type 3. Focusing on sustainable innovation
Companies need a robust innovation narrative coming from the CEO. That needs to be backed by a well-crafted innovation strategy, prioritised initiatives and funding to deliver it. It also requires a new mindset, governance structure and the process of funding approval. When Jeff Bezos is asked about current quarterly earnings, he often indicates that the performance of his company’s quarterly earnings was already predetermined many years ago. The innovation strategy that he pursues today shapes the performance of Amazon stock in the future.
I’d love to hear your views on this and whether you identify any other CEO archetypes worth discussing.
Munib is an award winning marketing and design professional, with over 30 years’ experience applying innovation methodologies and human-centred design to create long-term impact for organisations. He has helped to shift the innovation culture at more than one ASX 20 company. In addition to consulting for businesses, Munib is Conjoint Professor in Design and Innovation at AGSM/UNSW.
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