3 Kinds of Leadership for 3 Kinds of Innovation
Book Giveaway!!
20 copies available!!
Leave a comment on this guest post by Matt Chanoff to become eligible for one of 20 complimentary copies of his new book, The Heart of Innovation: A Field Guide for Navigating to Authentic Demand.
Deadline for eligibility is 11/11/2023. International winners will receive electronic version.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
There are three kinds of innovation, each calling for distinct leadership techniques.
#1. Informative innovation:
Train engines already exist. Informative innovation is building a more efficient train engine.
All businesses have a form encompassing value propositions, brands, customers, competitors, and investors. Informative innovation adds value within that form.
To be an informative innovation leader, protect your people and keep them pointed toward customer demand.
#2. Transformative innovation:
Transformative innovation changes a business’s essential form. The CEO says, “We’re not a railroad; we’re a transportation company. Let’s expand to planes and ships.”
The biggest problem is immunity to change.
It’ll turn out the insurance department doesn’t know the airfreight insurance market, the scheduler’s software can’t deal with port delays, the salespeople only know customers shipping bulk items that don’t fit on planes, and so on down the line.
Immunity to change means people throughout the company actively or passively resist transformation.
To lead transformative innovation, be psychologically acute; avoid, recognize, and deal with resistance.
#3. Formative innovation.
Formative innovation leads to brand-new business lines that leverage a company’s strengths to meet demands that were previously unrecognized.
In the 1870s, telegraph companies needed to run wires between cities, so they went to the railroads, which owned the right of way along their tracks. Soon, telegraph wires were strung up beside tracks around the country, and the railroads had a whole new revenue stream.
To lead formative innovation, build a new toolkit to uncover and build businesses around authentic demand.
How important is innovation to your business?
Which form of innovation seems most relevant to your business?
Matt Chanoff is a San Francisco-based angel investor who has worked with more than 30 early-stage companies, helping them to design business models and strategies and develop marketing and implementation strategies. His book, The Heart of Innovation: A Field Guide for Navigating to Authentic Demand, co-written with Merrick Furst, Daniel Sabbah, and Mark Wegman, outlines the secrets of Authentic Demand and is available from Berrett-Koehler Publishers (November 7, 2023).
Great points and glad to see them gather together. Thought-provoking from the perspective of an innovation cycle, which could take any of these three forms at different times. Thank you and happy to be considered for a free copy of your book!
This feels like a helpful typology. Dividing innovation into categories gives me varied ways to think about it, which is helpful since higher education (my industry) often seems to see innovation only as “doing new things.” I’m seeing here more options…!
We are experiencing innovation with our new bullet train in Florida. It will surely change our attitude toward access and time. We have watched remote work change the production environment and who knows how leadership will be impacted for the better. Thank you for the opportunity to read a field guide!
I love the example of the telegraph poles springing up next to the railroads. And also the importance of leaders preparing for resistance to new ideas in numerous ways.
We need informative innovation in my organization. We run an IT Service Management system for a very large government agency. Great people and tools, but we need better focus and efficiency in the way we run the system.
Thank you for these posts—I read them and share them daily.
Interesting concept! I look forward to reading!
In our organization, it’s important to obtain and sustain employee buy-in for proposed changes. We are the internal stakeholders and if we’re to promote our services in a favorable light, we have to believe in them, too. Also, allow us to share our thoughts about what we do which could help to improve what we do.
Love the how innovation is broken down into three categories. I look forward to reading this new book.
I’ve never seen innovation, broken out quite this way, yet it makes so much sense. I have been in places where each one has had to been employed for the business business to expand, especially to not be a one trip pony. But they definitely come with their own challenges! You definitely need to be prepared for it.! I look forward to reading more about this in the book.
I love this! My team is in the early stages of a new endeavor, and I’ve thought of couching it as a transformative event. This type of stuff excites and motivates me. Can’t wait to read it.
I really appreciate the innovation framework you have offered. I have described myself as a transformational leader almost my entire career and this gives me a great model to describe that more meaninfully.
Very interesting way to look at innovation.
I’ve seemed to like how I’ve seen it in books about the topic of Execution and doing what needs to be done to get where you want to go. However for truer innovation (and not the blank canvas – make up whatever idea you can dream of), the 3 plays on “formation” did open my eyes to the possibility of new ideas through the different lens. For me it was more the “Formation” over the “Information” and “Transformation”, although as I type this I can see points where innovation can start as one type and cross over to another as it builds momentum or wants to grow into something else.
As with any innovation, resistance will be there, and the success will be in the execution and creating the desire for others to follow the leader(s) to the hopefully (although it better not be based on hope) brighter future.
Looking forward to this read as this is at the heart of everything we do.
I couldn’t agree with this more: “To be an informative innovation leader, protect your people and keep them pointed toward customer demand.” Transformative Innovation can lead an organization down the right path when used correctly.
I found this post extremely interesting. It provides great insight as I am currently leading a center of excellence where we are testing out new processes quite often. This framework will help me be a better leader and a more mindful communicator with my team.
This is great! As a new school district superintendent, it falls in line with my work as well. It is very easy for school districts and educators to develop that sense of immunity to change.
Leading a 40+ year old program in government has made me realize that if we don’t innovate we will risk the programs relevancy. We have to project what the customers need will be, even when they don’t know it yet, and then pivot and innovate to position ourselves to meet it.
I love this topic and would value reading this book. This way of thinking will help me and my team continue to transform our ways of thinking and leading.
I love this, it’s such a better perspective than the drudgery of talking about resistance to change.
Great perspective of innovation and change. Looking forward to reading your book.
“To lead formative innovation, build a new toolkit”- adding tools to my toolbox sounds manageable. Leading innovation at times feels daunting. I look forward to reading more in the book.
great post thank you
I want to gift this book to our new general manager at one of our boutique hotels, and I want to read it as well. We’re one of the most innovative hotel and resort management companies in the Pacific, innovation is our brand. From the mouth of our new CEO (former CEO led us for 24 years), “I am determined to not only uphold the outstanding foundation I’ve inherited but also to propel our team to even greater heights of excellence and innovation.” The secrets this book will tell, I can’t wait.
I believe Chic-fil-a is the leader in this space by prioritizing the greatest innovation… for 2024, they “Will be the leader in hospitality in the fast-food industry”. The greatest innovation is hosting a phonemical customer experience. Only then will they eat more chicken. Great Post!
Love this! People are always so resistant to change, yet change is inevitable! It’s how we react and embrace the change and use it to grow that makes it a positive or negative thing! Innovating, in some way shape or form, is the only way to stay relevant!
Looking forward to reading more!
I’m looking forward to learning more, thanks for sharing. Innovation is a driving force for progress, and it appeals to me for its potential to address pressing issues, foster growth, and create positive change. It’s a dynamic and ever-evolving field that offers a wealth of opportunities for personal and societal development.
I would love to see innovation theory applied to government and nonprofits. Innovation does — and needs to — happen here. The paradigm is different so while broadly the theory can be applied, but it would be great to have examples in these sectors as well.
I think this innovation theory is important in the area of education as well. We have all seen how the types of jobs that our children will choose in years to come differ so much from the ones we and our parents chose.
We really need innovation in our schools at this point! Look forward to reading it!
I believe every innovation exercise needs to be informative. Purpose drives everything we do, even meeting our customers’ needs and demands.
This sounds like a great read and applicable to so many different types of organizations and sectors of business! thank you!
Always interesting
Great insight! It would seem that the “3 Kinds of Leadership for 3 Kinds of Innovation” must be grounded in the Mission/Vision of the organization to strategically maintain the focus/purpose of the organization.
Formative information may be the largest set of missed opportunities for most businesses! Stepping outside of the organization, and looking at it with fresh eyes, or inviting fresh eyes to offer input regarding new streams of revenue or service is a wonderful idea! Thank you!
We are in great need of innovation today. I like the way Matt structured this book to take the reader on an innovation journey.
This is very informative even on a small team scale. If we approach our teams with differing types of innovation, we can create new paths for each team within our company allowing for growth/development in new ways.
Quoting: “ Immunity to change means people throughout the company actively or passively resist transformation.” When we seek Transformative change, we cannot simply rely on the more obvious (probably) positive reasons to proceed. We must have considered the negative reasoning that suggests not proceeding – being willing to discuss such items openly and honestly, always seeing such concerns as legitimate. Just maybe, occasionally, they might be critical to deciding further consideration is necessary and maybe out to halt further efforts at least for the time being.
Love this concept as I share with people about doing the work, you need to work, you need to develop safe supportive environments in order to be building strong relationships, in order to do more innovative ways to do the work! This expanses the word “innovation” – I want this book!
I can’t wait to read this one.
Fascinating focus to bring teams together, through analysis of routes to goals, which goals are the priority?
This is a very interesting perspective. I would love to read this.
This is a very interesting perspective to categorize types of innovations as such. I would love to read this.