Thomas Knoll

The American Government is the largest human organization in the world through direct and indirect employment, it's currency, it's GDP, and through the exertion of it's global cultural influence.

The election of 2024 ushered in a new and radical departure from previous administrations. The American people resoundingly delivered the message that the status quo no longer works for most citizens and change is requested. Regardless of which side of the aisle you reside, and whether you like it or not, change is coming.

In the context of innovation, growth, and evolution - transitioning any large human organization requires a unique approach with the US government being no exception. It's akin to changing the direction of a battleship. No small feat I can assure you.

And not just any change - radical transformation should be expected in the coming years. The time for half measures and tweaks to the largest human organization in the world has arrived at our doorstep. And because this organization affects most global citizens, it's wise to plan accordingly. What we are about to experience in the coming years is impossible to understand from a historical perspective but there are less from radical transformations that might provide some insight.

Expecting radical transformation from the US government isn't outside the realm of possibility. The incoming Trump Administration and its champions have clearly signaled that change is coming and it's not going to be minor.

The DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) lead by Musk and Ramaswamy have indicated they are planning to significantly increase government efficiency, reduce costs (headcount, agencies, etc.) and boost the productivity of the federal bureaucracy. Not only will this affect those directly employed and depended on the government, but it will also affect corporations, citizens, and taxpayers. It's high time to prepare.

What we are about to experience is a radical transformation the likes of which most global citizens have never experienced.

Developing and nurturing a mission specific network of help and capability is critical for any senior innovation leader.

Without a capable, effective, and powerful network of advisors, strategists, and operators senior innovation leaders will fall short with their objectives. Full stop. The 'Horatio Alder Lone Wolf' who thinks they can accomplish great things as a soloist, tinkering away all by themself, will fall short of their objectives time and again. Having a network of help and capability to design, think, collaborate, and work with can literally mean the difference between success and fulfilling your mission or failure. Don't be Horatio.

Taking the time to purposely build your network of help and capability will produce long-term dividends across your current role, enable for a better life, and produce deeper meaning beyond your work and career.

It's easy to be seduced into focusing on the new, shiny thing - in fact, it's basic human nature.

Look no further than a child opening presents on their birthday. Notice how quickly they move from one present to the next - this is how it happens in my family and I imagine something similar occurs in yours as well. Children move quickly, opening one present after another, pausing mere milliseconds between each present. The joy of each individual present is but a fleeting engagement only to be fully embraced at a later date.

This is true of all humans even though some of this joy wears as we mature. At some level that allure to the new, shiny object simmers only to resurface at the next opportunity.

It's basic human nature to be attracted to shiny, new things. This attraction can serve as both a threat as well as an opportunity. It's a threat when with each new business trend, your organization jumps from possibility to possibility much like the child with their presents. It can also be an opportunity if the new, shiny object can help us move our agenda and strategies forward and we're able to capitalize on it.

The shiny new object phenomena we're exploring here has surfaced lately with a few headlines.

One headline is a layoff notice from Clubhouse, the pandemic darling which brought people together during lockdowns and isolation. This technology, essentially a conference call (hardly novel or innovative), flourished during the pandemic but has since crashed. This week they announced they are laying off half of their staff.

Applying this same logic of shiny new things, we can reflect on many fields and industries and notice similar trends. These flameouts occur more frequently in spaces and places that are driven by innovation. Reflecting on the history of innovations, particularly computer driven technology, the graveyard is vast.

Very few technologies and innovation stand the test of time.

So, if you're developing strategies, plans, and approaches to continually produce value and succeed in this environment, what is a leader to do? One framework to adopt is that of fundamental strategies.

Fundamental Strategies are frameworks, algorithms, and approaches that are applicable in all conditions and under all circumstances. Learning and adopting a fundamental strategy does take time, energy, money, and lost opportunities, but they only need to be learned once. They can be updated and upgraded over time but their underlying philosophy is applicable under all circumstances which is what makes it fundamental.

The effectiveness of fundamental strategies vary widely which is why it's important to select ones that align with the realities of the marketplace and ultimate intentions.

One of the shiny new objects of today is Artificial Intelligence (AI) - it's all the rage. Will is stand the test of time? Maybe. Is it a fundamental strategy? Perhaps. Will businesses both wildly succeed and spectacularly fail based on their AI (fundamental) strategy? Count on it.

What's your fundamental strategy?

As much as it’s critical to define innovation, it’s also important to properly outline and define what ‘isn’t’ innovation.

In many organizations, innovation has the tendency to get attached to projects and initiatives that should be categorized more appropriately. That’s where strong, clear innovation definitions serve some of their highest purposes. In addition to defining innovation and also what it isn’t, it’s critical to offer examples from the company history of both. 

Each organization must do this for numerous reasons including but not limited to budget allocations, outcomes and performance purposes, and team and governance structures. 

A common flaw in defining innovation - what it is and isn’t - especially in organizations that tend to have less innovation maturity, is tagging product and service development projects and initiatives as innovation. One fundamental and shared corporate innovation practice is planning innovation within longer time horizons that exceed three years. Projects and initiatives that have deliverables and a ROI timeline of less than three years, should not be tagged as innovation, although this is nuanced.

Product and service development is usually an 18 month time horizon and usually has its own budgets, departments, and teams. Certainly product and service development plays a role within the growth portfolio and may or may not share resources with the innovation team. Once again, each organization should distinguish between innovation and other growth programs inline with historical reference and the current/future corporate strategy.

When developing new or updated innovation definitions make sure to outline and define what innovation isn’t using case studies and examples from the corporate history to better organize and distinguish between innovation initiatives and other growth programs. 

Building and nurturing a network of help and capability is radically different in today's global marketplace compared to the marketplace that existed prior to the introduction of computer driven tools.

No human being can exist alone or without help, this is not in dispute. In addition to not being able to exist alone or survive without help, human beings are finite and can only take care of so much. In a global marketplace organized around the existence of computer driven tools, it's become more difficult and challenging to take care of our concerns due to the existence of new threats, evolved obligations, and new and complex opportunities that need to be exploited.

The importance of building a network of help within this environment has become a mission critical tactic that business people must learn how to produce and do so intentionally.

New tools have been introduced that enable the production of networks of help and capability, or collaborations of value exchange.

Wha't largely missing are the practices necessary to build value through these technologies. A fundamental approach to continuously building and producing value, identities, money, new ventures, careers, markets, and new interpretations is required.
There are multiple categories of help and capability that allow business professionals to organize their efforts: these include personal, professional, strategic, tactical help and capabilities.

In some domains any help is sufficient, in others specific help is required. For instance, if you have a serious heart condition would you want to get help from just any doctor? On the other hand, if your toilet is leaking any help will do.

This is simply an illustration of the different types of help that are on offer in a global marketplace driven by computers and the internet.

Connecting the corporate innovation and growth strategy to the overall strategy should be at the top of the priority list for any innovation team establishing or reestablishing their initiative. Organizations may or may not have an approach or a framework to connect the innovation strategy with the corporate strategy. If not, they should. One common framework is to think about the corporate strategy as ‘strategy’ and the corporte innovation strategy as the supporting ‘tactic’ that enables fulfillment.

One of the best and most experienced organizations in the world at this practice is the US military. There are clear operating standards and policies that delineate between these two distinctions. 

Corporate innovation teams should also utilize practices or processes in their operating duties. There are numerous ways to approach this and hundreds of methodologies and frameworks to choose from that are quite effective. A few examples include design thinking, business model canvas, corporate lean startup, idea management, and many, many more. You can also invent your own. Assigning performance metrics and outcomes to these practices (the tactics) can help support the broader organizational goals and objectives (the corporate strategy). 

When assessing corporate innovation performance it’s also important to distinguish between activity and outcomes. We have noticed many corporate innovation teams substitute activity for performance which has leads to flawed methodologies resulting in disastrous outcomes. Don’t do this.  

The most important and consequential corporate innovation outcomes should align with the corporate strategy.

Those repeat innovators who are able to reliably, dependably, and repeatedly produce positive results connect their outcomes to the overall corporate strategy. For publicly traded corporations top line revenues, net operating income, and market share are the most important metrics. The entire organization, in some fashion, works to influence these metrics. Orienting your innovation team with the practices that can positively influence the most consequential outcomes of the organization needs to be built into the corporate innovation governance structure. 

A new branch of corporate innovation management has introduced the concept of innovation accounting. This approach provides more depth into innovation metrics and outcomes by providing a system to track a broad range of supporting metrics. Some commonly used alternative metrics include: the number of new products created, how many ideas have been generated, and how many customers have been served. These can be viewed as tactical metrics whereas revenue, profits, and market share are the strategy.

In some cases vanity metrics are used that connect with the purpose of the organization. The current state of the market reflects a changing priority for corporates as ‘stakeholders’ are competing with ‘shareholders’ for influence. It’s yet to be determined whether vanity metrics truly influence corporate outcomes - in our experience it’s a rare exception.  

Although these alternative metrics can be informative in determining if innovation teams have been successful or not, the ultimate goal of any innovation team should be influencing revenues, profits, and market share. 

Intrapreneurship and corporate innovation are similar but different practices - let's explore.

With approximately 30% of the F500 having established intentional innovation functions, the distinction between intrapreneurship and corporate innovation is vague. Adding additional confusion to a functional area that is already plagued with uncertainty, anything innovation related opens up a wide array of conflicting interpretations. Even though corporate innovation has been in existence for at least 30 years, a wide set of practices agreed upon by its practitioners remains elusive.

When innovation is utilized properly and deployed optimally, it can produce amazing results. Industries, organizations, and even regions and nations have been transformed through innovation creating a better future for all who are influenced by it.

You can think of the intraprenuer as the player and corporate innovation management as the system with both adapting to the specific situations within the organization. For instance, an intrapreneur doesn't necessarily need to have innovation in their title. An accounting manager can be an intraprenuer if and when they look to evolve, improve, or transform their practices.

Let's define intrapreneur and corporate innovation.

The intrapreneur is a manager within an organization who promotes innovative product, service, and business model development. Corporate innovation, or more specifically corporate innovation management, is the structure and organization that allow a company to reliably, dependably, repeatedly produce new offers, practices, narratives, and strategies. For those who are unclear about the distinction between the intrapreneur and corporate innovation, this is a simple approach to ensure the correct language and descriptions are being used.

In the domain of innovation, more clarity and definition is better.

There are a plethora of skillsets the corporate innovator and intrapreneur must embody but there are three that are mandatory.

Corporate Innovation Management strategies and approaches vary widely. Some organizations take a centralized approach while others have a decentralized or dispersed function. Digital transformation, M&A, and R&D can be the centerpiece of the innovation and growth strategy while other organizations focus heavily on incremental improvements to existing products, services, or business models.

Regardless of the specific innovation strategy taken within your organization, three skillsets are mandatory across all intrapreneurial activity. They are:

Sales

Every corporate innovator, at one time or another, will need to sell their idea. They'll need to sell new concepts, ideas, approaches, frameworks, partnerships, and much more. Advanced, sophisticated sales and marketing capabilities will greatly increase your success.

Consensus Building

Politicking and consensus building are also required in corporate innovation roles and activities. Much like sales, consensus building takes time, energy, skill, and patience. Change takes time and support and corporate innovation is no different. Build this into any innovation and growth effort and account for this your models.

Resiliency

Having a thick skin, hearing no (a lot), and recovering from failure and disappointment are also critical intrapreneurial skills. Most other functional practices within the corporate setting can be fairly predictable, and that's certainly the case for corporate innovators as well, but it's not very common. Developing a resiliency to the uncertain and unpredictable nature of intrapreneurship will serve you well.

The corporate innovation would do well to develop a wide range of skillsets aligned with the specific agenda, goals, and objectives of the organization, but sales, consensus building, and resiliency are mandatory for any successful and long lasting corporate innovator.

When innovators, or any business professional for that matter, lacks a sufficient network of colleagues, customers, vendors, advisors, employees, and collaborators it's virtually impossible to forward the innovation and growth agenda.

In my work with corporate innovation teams for over 20 years I've noticed this is one of, if not the biggest, challenge for intrapreneurs. The greatest ideas in the world need a network of help to executive but most senior innovation leaders neglect the practice of building a powerful and effective network of help BEFORE they need it. And this is the key point ... the network of help needs to be built and in place before it's not needed, not as it's needed.

But how does one produce a network of help? What are the features of this network and how does it get activated?

The value of the marketplace is brought forth through transacting with money and offers, not currency. Currency is simply the byproduct of the transactions but valuable offers precede the currency. Wait, what? Yes, an offer is a conditional promised that two parties must agree to ahead of time. That money could be help in the form of advice, support, an assessment, research - virtually anything can be monetized.

Networks of help are built on the exchange of offers, practices, support, etc. through the sharing of help. Any help really.

When you're looking to build a network of help first ask yourself what do you have to offer than can be of value to someone who needs it, and then make a request in return.

Ensure your innovation and growth agenda advances and is successful by first building a network of help.