innovation: quick and dirty

Innovation: The quick and dirty way

Pavan SoniInnovation Evangelist and

Researcher Innovation.evangelist@gmail.com

www.pavansoni.com

What’s common?

Who ‘said’, ‘I want this’?

We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants. The only consultants I’ve ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway’s retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple’s retail stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products

Jobs on market research

When is listening to customers useful?

Disruptive innovations!

Invention + Commercialization Innovation

Creativity

Idea + Realization Invention

People

Process Techniques

Let’s dispel the myth!Problem Idea

7Innovation & Creativity: www.PavanSoni.com

Invention ≠ Innovation

8

Most Innovative Firms- 2014

Highest R&D spent- 2013

Most patents granted- 2013

VolkswagenSamsung

IntelMicrosoft

RocheNovartisToyota

J&JGoogleMerck

AppleGoogle

Tesla MotorsMicrosoft Samsung

ToyotaBMWGilead

AmazonDaimler

IBMSamsung

CanonSony

LG ElectronicsMicrosoft

ToshibaPanasonic

HitachiGoogle

05/01/2023 Pavan Soni, Innovation EvangelistSource: BCG, Booz & Co., USPTO

70% and go…

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Country cultures

Power distance

Individualism Masculinity Uncertainty avoidance

Pragmatism Indulgence

77

4856

40

51

26

Chart Title

India

Source: Gert HofstedePavan Soni, Innovation Evangelist

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Country cultures- In contrast

Power distance

Individualism Masculinity Uncertainty avoidance

Pragmatism Indulgence

77

4856

40

51

26

80

20

66

30

87

24

40

91

62

46

26

68

35

67 66 65

83

40

India China USA Germany

Pavan Soni, Innovation EvangelistSource: Gert Hofstede

Variance, not mean centric

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Innovation

The Medici Effect

13Great Ideas are born at the Intersection of Disciplines

Linear Growth

Discovering Intersections

I am imagining bringing 100s of people together from different backgrounds and disciplines within a region and have them work together to unleash an explosion of transformational

ideas.- Frans Johansson

Source: Medici Effect

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Look for non-customers

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Twitter

Non- Customers

Who? Why? How?

Soon to Be

Refusing

Unexplored

Source: Blue Ocean Strategy

Let a million flowers blossom

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We call the projects late and give as much time as possible for these ideas to blossom, as innovation is a very fragile process.

- Douglas Merrill, formerly at Google

Call the shots as late as possible

Multiple Ideas

Project Clusters

State of perpetual crisis

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“We want to beat Sony by 2005!”- Eric Kim, Head of Marketing, Samsung (2001)

“Change everything, except your wife and kids.”- Lee Kun-hee, Chairman, Samsung

Public burning of over 100,000 cordless phones at Samsung Gumi factory on March 9, 1995 

Paradoxes that drive Samsung: Size and speed Diversified but specialized Japanese and American management styles combined

Innovation through Bold investments Being the fast

follower Co-opetition Owner-led

transformation

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Enabling improvisation

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Key takeaways

• Innovation is not same as invention• Customers may not always be right• Improvise before you improve• Culture shapes innovation• Hone variance • Look at non-customers• Let a million flowers blossom• Maintain a state of perpetual crisis • Enable improvisation

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