Three learning objectives for the lead module. First, we want to understand how lead becomes critical for company renovation in the innovation universe. And then secondly, we want to equip leaders to lead the change required for innovation within companies. And lastly, want to adopt and improve your leadership characteristics and traits for the innovation economy. The story I'm about to tell you is based on true events, and although the names have been changed to protect the innocent as they say no, out of respect for people's privacy, I've changed the identifying information in the story but the essence of the story is there to help you begin to paint a picture of the new leadership role we each have in the innovation universe. I've been really fortunate to work with many great companies over the years.

And in the last few years, I was able to work with an amazing global Consumer Products Company, was working with the innovation team. And we were traveling around the world, working with local innovators in many, many different countries. And after we'd finish our long days, we would go out for dinner with these local innovators, the local colleagues, if you will, and we would often find ourselves in a deeper discussion. And and later over dinner, we would discover that in addition to the professional day jobs that our colleagues had, our dinner companions also practice very creative endeavors in their time away from work. And so over time, we just start Keeping a list of these types of creative endeavor endeavors that our dinner guests had, and they included things like stand up comic, published poet, furniture designers, furniture, builders, portrait painter, Street, chalk artist, interior designers, musicians, and sculptors to name a few.

And this observation that we had is one of that burrows deep into your brain and you can't shake, because you start asking yourself, why is it that all of these amazing people can't bring that side of themselves to work? And yes, this picture that you're looking at isn't my actual hair. So one day, the team and I start talking about it and the innovation team took it upon themselves to begin to spend some ideas and started working on forming what they called a creative affinity group, where these creative types could come together in each of these countries and on their own accord. Join possibly a group of like minded creative types. And it was interesting to watch them create this, it was a very scary thing, to begin to convince people to organize it to determine how much structure it needed. If you had too much structure, you might kill it, but it needed some structure, and to begin to try to describe to people what it was so that they could get people to join in.

And the other thing that was interesting is they didn't start with an ROI. They didn't start the business case. They just saw this phenomena and wanted to foster it wanted to host it. So it took them about a year, not planning it full time, but a year and they finally launched the first event. And they called this affinity group, the right brain network. And the right brain network started out very small and then grew to several hundred people.

What was most interesting to me as I watched this, is they didn't start this business per purpose, they merely wanted to host them and allow them to create their own agenda. And in that sense, it's very similar to launching an innovation and it's just a scary you know, you do all this work that due diligence, you figure out the market, you figure out, there's something there and you launch it out into the world. And it comes back to you in the most creative, amazing ways that you never ever imagined. I was really lucky because I got to interact with the right brain network several times and every time I interacted with them, I came away just amazed at their outlook on life and how different they were than everyone else in this company. It was truly inspiring. I can't tell you how much I've learned from them.

Now over time, the activities that they unleash were truly amazing. And I'll give you just a few examples of some of the things that members of the group participated in in blood. They started partnering with the local arts groups in communities that had underserved art communities and children at risk and started bringing art to the school into the community in new ways. They started working with a local art gallery and trying to get them to understand some future oriented planning to help their attendance and their livelihood using some innovation teams. They started a I call it Pecha Kucha, everybody calls it something different night and had this just amazing array of people from the community that came forward and told the most incredible stories. Pecha Kucha happens in six hours in 60 seconds, I'm sorry, six minutes, and 60 seconds over 20 slides, and it's a really interesting way to tell a story.

They also collaborated with a local firm and convinced The city government to allow them to host some community related innovation events. They host a website. So there many members could post their creations and get feedback and help from other members in the community. And the innovation teams that are working in the company started to learn about them and started to invite them to their ideation sessions. And so you know, they would have teams that would get stuck, and they knew that the right brain network members could come in, and they would be thinking about the world very differently. They would kind of be a shock to the system in a good way.

And so they really started to help the innovation effort by creating and infusing new ways of thinking and, and creativity. The right brain network also published a monthly newsletter and as you might imagine, it came in your inbox It was so exciting because it was just a feast for the eyes. It was a delight. To read. And so this experience that I had with this right brain network and this company really opened my eyes to what is possible when you begin to see networks where none exist. Innovation universe leaders only support networks, but they encourage and host these cogs.

And so in doing that, they really support a network culture in their company and their community. Now, they don't always create them, but sometimes they unleash them. There's an idea or a kernel of a spark and they get behind it and begin to help foster it and help bring it to life. The nice thing about these creativity, affinity groups these tags is they're self managed. And their volunteer everyone votes with their feet and they're there because they want to be there. A lot of the activities happen in the evening.

Some happen during work hours, but a lot of them and so having it be a force system or a company pressure to join would absolutely kill it has to be volunteer, and it has to have that freedom to exist the way it needs to exist. But the moral of this story is companies can gained so many ways from these creative affinity groups and networks, you almost can't count the number of ways. And as with any innovation, you kind of launch it and see if it works. Some of them don't work, but many of them do. And many companies now have them. And the benefits are enormous.

I mean, they change the way we think about work. They begin to architect a better and more inviting workplace. They begin to add to the innovation efforts in ways that maybe we couldn't imagine before they contribute to the local community. They certainly did in this case. They help to change Talent Imagine if you work for another company. And you can't bring this creative part of you to work and you start working for this company and you learn they have these right brain networks and you can bring your whole person to work, if you will, and bring this creativity and even after work connect with people that maybe you wouldn't be able to find.

It's it's quite a benefit. And those are just some of the benefits to these creative affinity groups that leaders in the innovation universe can host and unleash. Let's look at our way finder for the innovation universe. We've completed three of the modules three of the platforms, we've completed frame, which is about the strategic mandate and that linkage between innovation and the strategy. We've curated generate, we've completed Generate, which is about customer driven problem solving. We finished embed, which is about renovating the organization so that innovation can thrive.

And we're down to now the fourth platform and that is the lead platform. This platform is different from the other two because this one is about you. And this one is about how you unleash human potential both in yourself and in others. The defining factor for a leader in the innovation universe is that they see their primary outcome as one to unleash human potential and others, but also in themselves. This trait is almost like a genetic marker in their DNA. It's so central to their leadership existence.

Leaders in the innovation universe are not a result of title or how many people or resources they manage. It's a result of this, this genetic marker this DNA where leaders get their kicks by unleashing potential that no one else can see. Now we're going to talk about some examples of how to do this and you are many may have this outlook for your leadership skills. But I want to underscore this notion of innovation from everyone and everywhere. If leaders aspire to do this in their company, they have to look everywhere for innovation potential. You know, I'm fortunate to work with amazing people at the two universities that I'm privileged to be a part of.

And at the University of Chicago, there's this amazing professor, his name's Dr. Harry Davis. And he often talks about the way companies and organizations force us to leave a big part of ourselves in the trunk of our car when we go to work. And he often talks to students and executives and encourages environments both in the classroom at work, where everyone can bring their whole person to work. You know, thinking about that it's a really powerful concept. And it makes me wonder what would it be like at your company or every company If we were encouraged to unleash our innovation potential, and to bring our full selves to work. As a leader in the innovation economy, you have a role in setting the stage to unleash innovation potential in both yourselves but also other people.

And I'm going to encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone and take charge by leading in new ways. In the lead platform, we will look at some ideas how you can change the game to unleash human potential by your leadership actions. We have four elements of lead in the lead platform first, and we've talked about this in the opening segment, but to become a network leader, to really think about your organization as a network culture. The second one is to be a resource creator. Thirdly, To think about the environment, both the physical and non physical, and to become an architect for that environment that leads to innovation. And last is to be a change agent for renovating the company, and also a thought leader in innovation to bring in new ideas.

So those are the four elements. Now, let's look at the first element, and that is the network leader. There's this great quote by jack Canfield that I absolutely love and it says this, it says, everything you want is on the other side of fear. And that quote comes to mind as we begin to talk about leading in the innovation economy. Because practicing some of these new leadership traits and behaviors that we're going to talk about is not the status quo. It's not even an improvement to what's already there.

These new traits and behaviors are very different, and they take courage to practice and perfect. Now, there are two things types of networks that I want to talk about in the innovation universe. The first one is one that I call demand driven networks. And we've already talked about this in the Generate platform. This is these ecosystems that you create, that are needed to get your innovation to market. They could be based on skills or core competencies that your company is lacking.

And you're looking for a partner, or technology, or funding or any number of reasons that you would go out and create these networks, but they're very demand driven based on the innovation that you're working on. The second type of network is an opportunistic network. And that's where these kags that we talked about in the introduction would come in these creative affinity groups. Now, let me just give you a few characteristics of a creative affinity group. First of all, they're groups of people who share a sense of purpose. And a common goal.

They're non hierarchical in that everyone is equal. And there's no bureaucratic structure in there. Generally, as an example, in the beginning, a company organization lightly hosts them. So someone helps them get organized, but they're member lead, they're voluntary. The company doesn't say you have to join or pressure you to join. And they're self regulating.

They decide what they want to work on and what the events are and what makes sense to them. They they're generally grouped by passion and interest of the members. And what's interesting about them is you tap into a discretionary time and energy of the members now, no doubt we're all time starved, but we can always find time for something that we're personally interested in and this is what this taps into These creative affinity groups create a collective identity for their members. And in a company, when you have them, they set the stage for a network based culture, which is leading toward the innovation universe. So first, let's look at networks in a company context, if you will. And the picture on your screen is a really interesting picture.

And what you're looking at is a social network analysis that was conducted by a company on their post launch team. So this is a product company. They have teams of people who are accountable to launch innovations into the marketplace. And these are the teams that wants the innovations are launched, they go out and do the nurturing and try to elongate the product lifecycle in the marketplace, if you will, using innovation ideas and marketing and go to market tools. So this is one business unit. One product category and a graphic is used with permission.

If you'd like to learn more about it, you can see it in my book unleashing innovation. Now, a social network analysis is a map of iterate interactions that are based on a certain topic, in this case, post launch. And it's a self reported analysis. And there are questions that you ask the members Like, who do you work with? Who do you share information with? What's the nature of your relationship with certain people good or bad?

So each.on this map that you're looking at is a person and each line represents a relationship. And the longer the line the more strained the relationship? Now that you understand the background and the what makes up a social network analysis, you can look at this picture and begin to see the problem. Because what you're seeing is a startling picture. These are product teams in a given year, who all have the same accountability in the same company in a very competitive environment, and they're islands unto themselves, they don't share ideas with each other, they don't help each other. It's really interesting picture of what's actually going on in this company.

Now, as I said, in other examples, this is a very well run company. And as a result of this analysis, this company put several actions in place to correct this. But it's a point in time to think about the importance of understanding networks. And so the reason I show you this map is there's more ways to understand an organization than by looking at things like org charts or job descriptions or annual appraisals, and innovation universe leadership, innovation universe leaders can see networks and how they're functioning without necessarily having to do a social network map. Innovation universe leaders also create network I'd like to say out of thin air, they create networks. And they help with social collaboration and help unleash creativity and innovation.

Now, I think what's important in this example is everything about being a leader and innovation in the innovation universe is new and different. And so it takes courage. Because you're going against maybe the traditional view we had of leaders are going against the status quo. So this quote we started with everything you want is on the other side of fear. Maybe it can be adapted a little bit, but as an innovation leader in innovation universe, you have to work through this fear of being different, so that you can excel and unleash human potential for innovation. I recently read this great HBr article.

It's called how leaders create and use networks. The citation is on the screen. It's fun 2007. Internet the author's described three types of networks Operational, personal and strategic. And it's the strategic one, the last one that fits very closely with what we're talking about with these creativity, affinity groups, and the network's formed in the innovation sandbox. The authors describe strategic networks as a means to the future, or to figure out future opportunities.

And they talk about these networks having discretionary membership. They say the membership isn't always clear. So it's not always clear who should belong. And it's usually created with internal and external members. And they also talk about what members get out of being part of a network. And they say there are four things they get a social relationship.

That's to be in this network with colleagues and acquaintances that have a common goal, an external expectation or to work on something meaningful They get personal achievement. So they get personal recognition and connections that maybe they can't get in their daily life or at work. And the last one was kind of interesting. It was escape or stimulation, and that is, it breaks them out of the monotony, or the routine of daily life, particularly daily work life. That to me is interesting. Now, if you don't think working in a traditional company can be monotonous and you probably do but just stay with me here for a second.

Let me tell you about this ridiculous, childish game I play. I live in a large city, and there's a big skyscraper right next to my building. It's kind of about a half a block away, so I can't see the people's faces that work in there. I can kind of see their outline. The days I work from home. I often look over at this building.

When I'm getting a cup of coffee or something. I began to think about How nonsensical work is and accompany me when you look at it like that from the outside in, even though I can't really see the people it just looks nonsensical. So I play this game. It's called person or potted plant. And it goes like this early in the morning when I see the lights go on, and I can only see the silhouettes in the office windows. So I can't really tell Is it a person or is it a plant, and the only way I can tell is if they move.

And so I began to notice that it takes a long time for them to move. They hardly ever move. I'm guessing it's people who are sitting at their workstation working on some solitary task on their computer. Now, please note the irony of this is I'm doing the exact same thing in my home office but so often take some time to wonder is it a person or a potted plant and the only way I can figure it out is if they move And often I can't wait long enough to get the answer because I have things to do. So I know it's ridiculous. I didn't say it was highbrow.

But now move this to the innovation space to the workspace. Think about innovation space and networks and innovation teams that are collaborating on it at a task and the contrast for what that work setting looks like is amazing. People are up moving around, they're clustering. They're laughing, they're posting ideas. They're drawing pictures, and they're actually talking and listening to each other. You know, when I teach innovation to executives in a workshop setting, I always set up two learning spaces, I set up a classroom, and then I set up a large open space.

And we Evan flow between the two spaces and the open space is where they do their innovation work. They have kind of pod stations that they work out with all this creative stuff around and that big space has a very collegial feel to it. And when the executives are in this open room working on whatever innovation tasks they've been assigned, the sounds in the room are amazing is all this laughter and debate and dialogue, and it's loud and it's lively. And as the workshop ebbs and flows, and we move back into the classroom to reflect on what just happened, here's how the conversation goes. I always ask, okay, did you have fun in the room next door? And they always say, absolutely, yes.

We had a lot of fun. And then I asked, Did you notice how loud and energetic it sounded in that room? I mean, it kind of sounded like a party, and they absolutely concur. And they just start start talking about how energizing it was. And then just to be sure, I say, but were you working hard? Were you really working?

And they say, absolutely. They were absolutely working hard. And then I asked this rhetorical question, why can't everyday work be like this? So no one would ever mistake us when we're in That big room for potted plant. So when innovation leaders unleash innovation teams and network networks, they unleash new ways of working of interacting, problem solving. They unleash fun, and there is nothing solitary about innovation work.

It's a team sport and a sport of collaboration and networking. Okay, now we're going to look at the MVA the minimal viable approach to networks. And in this case, we're going to look at nine steps that you can use to help unleash to help identify, create, uncover, unleash networks in your company. Let's look at this nine steps. First of all, go back to the frame, platform and look at your sandbox and begin to imagine pockets of interest or skills or hobbies that would help your innovation effort in the future. And secondly, start to exchange ideas with people about some pockets of creative people that could form this kag Thirdly, be clear on your intention ask people if this were a voluntary organization or network would they get a benefit for erase all the boundaries in your mind so you can think outside of normal groupings five, find a passionate first adopter and collaborate with them and let them start working on what the network might look like six, expand, begin to create a list of who might fit into the cluster and start looking for additional people and then unleash it.

You know, the real test is if it becomes independent or semi independent, if the members are running it if they're setting up the events etc. Eight document keep track of what's happening. And nine repeat. Okay, we just covered network leader and looked at what it's like to build a network innovation economy or a network marketplace. or workplace. And now what I'd like to do is talk a little bit about an additional role for leaders in innovation universe, and that is to become a resource creator.

Let's look at it. Resource creators are leaders who have a track record of innovation, through collaboration, and have created a compelling work climate, and results that are a magnet for talent and funding. Now, there are two aspects of resource creation that I want to discuss. The first one is in terms of resource allocation. We're going to look at that in terms of a budgeting system. And the second one is in terms of people and how to attract talent to your team.

But let's first look at resource allocation. And we're going to use the example here of budgeting. I was working on in an innovation workshop and having a sidebar conversation with one of the executives, they're from finance about innovation. And she's a senior leader in a very large multinational company. Let's call her Jane. And she told me this is how resource allocation works in her company.

And it's the same about the same every in every company. Now, this example is a January to December budgeting cycle. So in the fall, the finance group of the company determines the budgets for the following year. And they do that based on the environment, how the business is doing, but they also do that on historical allocations. And so they go through and they come up with kind of a number and then they do some kind of a discount to that number. They take it down, let's say 10%.

And they're understanding the psychology of the budgeting process that we all go in asking for more. And there has to be some kind of mechanism to get us back or even lower than we had the previous year. Now, at the same time, if you're a department head in this company, you've been asked to submit the projects and expenses, etc, the number of ft E's that you're planning for the upcoming year. And that's based on your goals to deliver in that upcoming year. And so you know, the drill. And you're trying to get at least as much as you had last year, and it may be a little bit more.

Now, keep in mind that the company already knows what it's going to allocate to your department. There's some rare exceptions, but generally it already knows. And so, eventually, someone gives you your number, after you submit your plan. And then you come back and you make this case that you can't possibly do it for that amount, that they've given you these goals. And you need the resources that are commensurate with that. But the budget stays unchanged at this minus 10% level.

And so it goes year after year, roughly the same in many, many companies and departments throughout the world. Now, I'm telling it in a bit of a cynical view, but I think it's directionally correct. And just as this movie that you're watching this video shows, and by the way, this is not the innovation universe, this is our universe, but I'm using it as a proxy for resource allocation. There is this energy force that's in the middle that's in the center that creates a gravitational pull and everything orbits around it in a calendar year or in some kind of timing. And the same is true for resource allocation. There's this annual budgeting process that's at the center and all the p&l groups orbit around it and as This picture shows, some faster, some are getting More because they're going around more often some slower.

While there's even one that just circling in place, I don't know what's happening with that one. But a decision is made is how much of how much each group gets year after year. And it's seemingly impossible to break out of that you become so depended on that system that you just assumed that's the way it works. Now, don't get me wrong. resource allocation systems are absolutely necessary and companies. I mean, if I owned a big company, I would do the same thing.

But what an innovation leader knows is the power of and they know that the resource allocation system alone will not suffice. So they go out and they work on attracting additional resources, both funding and people to deliver great innovations. Innovation leaders are always questioning the status quo and looking differently to achieve a different outcome. So the question is how do you break out of this gravitational pull? And what happens when you change your mindset and skillset, to a resource creation, mind and skillset. Innovation and leaders and companies know they have a bit of a timing issue with budgeting and resource allocation.

They know that costs Trump unknown risky endeavors. So innovation leaders see a different scenario playing out or I should say an additional one. Because innovation leaders have this inherent unshakable belief that if they come up with a great innovation that will benefit both the customers and the company, the resources will follow. It's this great leap of faith. And they start with this outcome, this great innovation and work backwards to create the result. sources for funding and people.

For the most part, they're impervious to this resource allocation scenario playing out above, with the exception of they do take advantage of it because it's their baseline budget, if you will. If you want to lead on innovation economy, you might have to keep one foot in both camps. But your emphasis should be on resource creation. Innovation leaders, applied lean approaches and create innovations on a shoestring. They do it the way great entrepreneurs do it. They question every expense, every vendor invoice.

They use their funding in a parsimonious way. They know that's staying at the most expensive hotel, for example, is losing sight of the reason that they're there so they in their teams practice lean at every turn. They never want their have a story to be clouded by a dumb spending decision. But when they need funding, they go out and create it both inside and outside the company. And they do this by pitching their idea and getting commitments from senior leaders for toll gates along the way of their innovation unifying process. And by looking on the outside for strategic partners, that fits the company's risk profile for outside funding.

Now, if they want to take a little more risk than the company traditionally takes, then they work inside with this, the partners inside and the people in charge of risk management. So unlike the folklore, they don't just go out and start by asking for forgiveness. They work in the system, but they have a drive to get what they need for their innovation. So their resource creation and creators and after a few seconds successful projects senior leaders know that they're going to deliver. And they will even take a larger risk on them than other leaders who are waiting for resources to be allocated to them. They are adaptive problem solvers.

And as we discussed in generate, they know how to get teams from A to Z. They may say things along the way, like we're learning this as we go along, or we're learning together. And they really mean it. They don't feel like their role is to have all the answers Rather, they feel like their role is to frame so others can create solutions and to go out and create resources to fit those solutions. They know how to get things done, and they have a history of delivering. And mostly they rely on their teams to do this.

Now for a lot of people working in companies, especially people that have worked in companies for a long time, they different have a bit of a dependence mindset and entitlement mindset. Great innovators never fall prey to that mindset. They treat every day as a day to prove themselves and feel like they are in control of their destiny. This is based on their belief in possibility, and their belief that they can find an answer or their team can find an answer. These traits are what turn leaders who rely on resource allocation into resource creators. So let me just recap some of the traits that we've talked about in this section for resource creators.

They're adaptive problem solvers. They frame and influence and let the team solve the problem. they adopt lean methodology. They have a collaborative mindset. They're possibility thinkers, they don't accept the status quo and they know their role is to create resources and they delight in finding new solutions. So I bet you work with someone who possess these traits.

So take a few minutes and identify who that leader is that has these traits and make a point to study them, talk to them, emulate them, learn from them. These traits, these resource creation traits are critical for leaders in the innovation universe. Now we're going to look at the second MVA the minimal viable approach and this one is for resource creation or to become a resource creator. And as you see on the chart, there are six steps to transition from to become a resource creator and they are the following know the strategy. Adopt a possibility mindset, free up resources that you've already been given using, using lean, create a compelling offerings and generate have something for people to react to learn how to tell a story and to pitch for resources. Create an ecosystem for potential funding both inside and out, and practice and perfect resource creation traits, the ones that we talked about earlier, I'd like you to do is to pick one of these, and to turn off the module and think about how you would begin to demonstrate this, whether it's learning to free up resources by learning some lean approaches that you can use.

A good one here is to take some time and learn how to pitch, pitch for resources or tell a story that as I said earlier, there's lots of tools out there and innovation. So pick one of these and work on it and make it something that you really want to perfect and get good at Congratulations, you finished part A of lead the lead platform in the innovation universe. And now I'd like you to go to part B we're going to look at the last two elements which are environment architect and change agent and thought leader. So I'll see you in Part B