Innovation Sucks!

Businesses spend billions on innovation with very little to show for their investment or effort. This book challenges some of the ‘ingrained truths’ of innovation and suggests a different approach.

Innovation is not the creation of a novel idea. It is the successful commercialisation of that novel idea. Rather than starting with a costly, time-consuming problem assessment that seeks to push potential solutions through an innovation funnel, an ‘impeller approach’ starts with possible solutions and gets the market to pull the best ones forward so they can fail fast or flourish fast. This approach is made possible by the addition of a ‘bee’ – a new type of integrative thinker who can harvest the existing knowledge from the ‘meadow of experts’. Completely reversing the innovation process means organisations are much better placed to win in the market rather than focusing on finding theoretical solutions or clearing innovation stage gates. In addition, this approach also recognises that the people who shepherd the solution through the ideation and testing stage are not the same people who must then take that solution to market for successful commercialisation.

Given the current innovation failure rate, coupled with the fact that society is beset with multiple wicked problems, it’s time to think differently and innovate innovation itself. This book is essential reading for Heads of Innovation and Commercialisation, Directors of Marketing, Heads of New Product Development and New Service Development, Strategy Directors, Chief Technology Officers, Government advisers and policy makers.

Alan Watkins is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of Complete – a consultancy that specialises in developing enlightened leadership through individual and team development. Alan is unusual in that he advises completely different businesses in totally different market sectors, in different geographies and works with many different types of businesses from innovative tech start-ups to FTSE 10 giants. He is the author of several successful books, including HR (R)Evolution: Change the Workplace, Change the World co-authored with Nick Dalton.

Simon May is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Impeller Ventures which was set up to pioneer this type of novel approach to innovation. Impeller Ventures is also dedicated to tackling the huge waste that poor approaches to innovation create. With over 30 years of experience at the intersection of design, technology and business, Simon has developed brands, products, services, processes and business models for a range of organisations from start-ups, technology transfers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to corporates and multinationals across a range of geographies and sectors.