‘Open up to Innovation’

Spotlight

Adam Kingl, London Business School’s executive director of thought leadership, executive education, gives a preview of his talk at IMEX’s EduMonday PCMA Business School.

Adam Kingl will present his research on leadership and the future of business at the PCMA Business School, which takes place as part of EduMonday at IMEX in Frankfurt, 15–17 May 2018. Here he shares the essence of his presentation.

The easiest way to obsolescence is to do what everyone else is doing. Businesses that are in it for the long-term must break down unnecessarily complicated procedures and bureaucracy that can be a barrier to creativity and open up to innovation. It’s up to leaders to drive this intention across their businesses, by exploring all the possible spaces open for innovation, focussing not only on improving products, but also considering, for example, different approaches to business processes.

Some of the world’s leading companies have achieved real success through innovating their business models. It’s hard to believe that, once upon a time, Amazon was a book retailer! Today, Amazon is a titan of e-commerce, logistics, payments, hardware, data storage, and media. Likewise, Apple has innovated and evolved, changing the entire music-business model and, over the last four decades, has produced some of the most-beloved products in the technology industry.

Innovation delivers impact: It can lead to new customers and new markets, ultimately boosting the bottom line. Don’t be afraid to question the who, what, why of your business — drill down to the very essence of its model and you’ll prompt fresh thoughts around new products, new markets, and new customers. It can help to take a step back from the numbers and rigid objective goals, to think about the business more holistically.

Innovation shouldn’t just be confined to management, it has potential to originate from all levels of a business. A great idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. However, to harness the innovation within, businesses need to create an atmosphere where people feel empowered to collaborate with others, to share their ideas in a place where creativity is welcomed.

In the modern world, innovation is the responsibility of everyone within the business.