It is almost always helpful to explore the underlying questions before diving in to answers. In the case of innovation, a key question is HOW do big companies and startups create products? In what ways do they walk the same path and where do they diverge?
Grasshopper, the answer to this question lies within!
Cake or death?
In big companies, more often than not, innovation is the result of a Burning Platform. Some catastrophic event forces a company to change its ways or face death. Does it have to be that way? Of course not. Just as everyone would choose cake, big companies can actually choose to innovate.
(*Burning Platform required)
Embracing innovation is the corporate equivalent of inviting a cool kid you don’t really like to your birthday party. If they come to the party, you’ll probably be miserable. If they scorn you, you’ll look bad infront of all of your friends. Or at least, that’s the way it seems. **Spoiler Alert** The actual data shows that, given enough time, every successful big company innovates.
Every time a major executive touts a company’s innovation intentions, they explain how they want to become more like a startup. And yet everything a big company is and everything it does are at odds with that goal. What startup traits, if any, should a big company adopt?
Let’s square that circle and see what startup traits a big company should actually try to adopt.
What does innovation in a big company really mean? Can it actually add value, or is it just another buzzword that deserves an early and unmarked grave?