"They just don't understand Val!" Is one of the most common observations I get whether I am working with a marketing, engineering, finance, creative or technical minded executives. They are talking about their colleagues, board members, peers and bosses.
If only the technical team would understand how we need to build a business model that will disrupt our industry. If only the creative team would realize their ideas are technically impossible. If only the business team would realize there will be no sustainable profit unless we have a creative experience that our customers love.
The most common trait of companies that can break the mold with new ideas is that they create a symbiotic relationship between creative, technical, and business minds. This is what I call the Innovation Trifecta® which occurs when there is a mutually beneficial connection between very different parts of your business so that you can create innovative products and services that your customers will love.
Here are three ways to tell if you are unleashing the power of innovation within your company:
1. Complement your CEO’s expertise
Just like the sun, the expertise of your CEO is the pivotal power of your organization, and the rest of your leadership team need complimentary talents that orbit the CEO like planets in a solar system. Jeff Bezos has a precision sharp business brain, and he knows to surround himself with genius technical talent. Amazon is swarming with the best technical brains on the planet. Does your CEO have mini-me’s around them or a complementary set of minds?
2. Where is your weakest link?
As part of transforming the Amazon Fashion experience, we knew that we had to strengthen our creative expertise. Disruptive creative marketing was unheard of five years ago at Amazon because their focus was mainly on books and basics, so we had to break the mould and go and hire the best industry talent that would bring a creative expertise to drive the changes we needed to capture a significant share of the $500B fashion industry. Where do you have strength, and where is your weakest link, with your creative, technical, or business expertise?
3. Replicate the Shrimp and Goby Effect
A pistol shrimp is nearly blind. It cannot see when it’s predators are nearby and wouldn’t last long if he didn’t create a symbiotic relationship with the watchman goby. When we had a marine aquarium these were our favourite two inhabitants because you see two very unlikely creatures working together for mutual benefit. The pistol shrimp uses his large claws to dig caves for the watchman goby and the goby keeps the shrimp safe from predators. Companies need to build similar symbiotic relationships between creative, technical, and business minds. Too often it’s like you have landed in Japan and you are trying to speak French, what is getting lost in translation in your company?
Companies that are too focused and heavy on technical expertise will lose creativity. Companies that are too creative may not have a profitable solution. Companies that weight decisions purely on business metrics won't delight customers and create exponential growth through innovation.
How are you creating a symbiotic relationships today?
My next book explores The Innovation Trifecta: How to Catapult Innovation by Creating a Symbiotic Relationship between Creative, Business, and Technical Teams. Let me know if you would like to receive a free sample chapter.
Val
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