Improving Innovation Center Effectiveness

In a recent post, we presented several reasons why we think Innovation Centers hinder a company’s ability to innovate. If you have an Innovation Center (or similar organizational structure), what can you do to make it more effective? You can start by changing your perspective on what an innovation center should do. In our view,…

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Don’t Settle for Another Failed Offsite Strategy Meeting

Imagine you’re attending an offsite strategy meeting. You’re prepared. You’re fired up. You’re eager to engage. But ten minutes into the meeting, you’re checking your email – and so are most of the people around you. Sound familiar? Of course it does. Many – probably most – strategic offsites are held with great intentions, but they…

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Does Your Innovation Center Create a Barrier to Success?

Sometimes what you want—and what you spend considerable time and money trying to achieve—is not what you get. This is especially true of innovation. The need to “be more innovative” has captured the attention of executives in almost every industry. And these executives have responded by building lots of innovation infrastructure within their companies. They…

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5 Signs You May Have Outgrown Your Structure

What Google’s Re-Org Teaches us About Strategy and Org Design Google recently announced a significant organization restructuring, creating a new holding company called Alphabet. The reorganization separates Google’s core internet business from smaller, ancillary growth efforts like their Life Science business (glucose-monitoring contact lenses) and Calico, an R&D effort focused on aging and related diseases.…

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Acquired? Don’t Let Your Behaviors Impede Integration

In our experience, realizing deal progress and creating value during a merger or acquisition is largely driven by the combined firm’s ability to make decisions and remove uncertainty quickly. However, a fair amount of the probability for deal success hinges on how people behave. This isn’t just true for how the buying company’s leaders act…

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