BRAND INNOVATION: Grow your business

by Anne M. Berg

Innovation is highly correlated with value creation and financial performance. And when it’s done well, innovation lives as a continuous process of collaborative and open exchange – where multiple initiatives make up a dynamic portfolio that keeps a company growing. Here’s a brief look at this new imperative:

• Then: relentlessly focus on a single sustainable competitive advantage.
• Now: dynamically cycle through multiple new strategic initiatives.
• Then: steadfastly protect the interests of the company.
• Now: seamlessly honor and delight the customer.
• Then: consistently keep your best people working on the newest crisis.
• Now: naturally rely on your best people to work on new opportunities.

If you fail to see innovation as a constant, you may find your organization facing the perils experienced by Blackberry, Kodak, or IBM. In a flat world that’s moving through a digital revolution, you need to get smart early and often; you need to get systematic about early-stage innovation. And grow your way into the future.