First off, I need to clarify that Varun Mallapragada is the author of this article, written in June 2021. The settings on the WP theme I’m using are not straightforward. What caught my attention was the inclusion of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, used to look at today’s wants – something I recently questioned in a Twitter poll, with interesting results.
“My favorite definition of innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvements in the way goods or services are offered.” – Jeff Winter, Microsoft
Chief Innovation Officers — Who are they? Why do you need them?
The Chief Innovation Officer title has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. There are ~430,000 people with the title on LinkedIn as of today.
Popularly referred to as the CIO or the CINO. I have seen cases where the “I” in CIO evolved from Information to Innovation. Not going to debate which acronym is correct.
The CIO’s role used to be about managing information/data, IT systems and knowledge bases. Now, it’s all about creating a competitive edge by accelerating R&D, conceptualising new products/services and building an inclusive culture of innovation. And hence, the Chief ‘Information’ Officer role has evolved into the Chief ‘Innovation’ Officer role at large companies.
“54% of innovating companies struggle to bridge the gap between innovation strategy and business strategy.” – PwC Innovation Benchmark
The world of business is rapidly changing, so much so that you can say it’s transforming at scale since the last few decades. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, “change” as a business subject is much more real to each one of us. Change results in different human behaviour which subsequently creates a gap between the market and your business workflows.
Change has never been this fast and will never be this slow again.
The innovation office will play a key role in managing change at your company. If change is navigated and managed right, you will achieve and sustain product-market fit.
A CIO who is really great at their job will be able to align your business/corporate strategy with the innovation strategy — embedding innovation in your company’s DNA. They will create a roadmap for the future of your company as it relates to new markets, new products/services, managing change, culture and more.
Responsibilities of a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO/CINO):
- Build and develop an innovation strategy with necessary buy-ins
- Create an innovation pipeline with a roadmap to drive growth
- Establish clear processes for the pipeline, from generation of ideas to cultivation and business value
- Evaluation of risk versus reward for innovation and business objectives
- Learning and development programs for employees
- Creating an inclusive and diverse environment with a collaborative culture supporting cross functional activities
- Change management
- Assessing competition and maintaining an overall edge
It is a very broad task to drive innovation within a large organisation. You can expect a CIO to work a large number of hours like most C-level executives.
“Although 84% of executives agree that innovation is important to growth strategy, only 6% are satisfied with innovation performance.” – McKinsey Global Innovation Survey
Chief innovation officers can gain experience as program managers or product managers first, ensuring they enter the role with experience in building innovative processes or launching innovative products from scratch.
To stand out for this type of a role (very limited in number with fierce competition), you can differentiate yourself by coupling your technical experience with business experience and leveraging skills like product management, design thinking and customer engagement.
The “Old Guard” will tell you to innovate and be creative but what they don’t tell you is that it’s only ok to do things that they’ve already thought of and agree with. Welcome to the Innovation Office!
Top traits to look for when hiring a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO/CINO):
- Collaborative — most important trait as innovation needs a lot of buy-ins and handoffs to go from an idea to creating business value.
- Positive impact on Culture — being humble, creating an environment of diversity and inclusion is crucial because the collective value of a team’s perspective is key to identifying problems and solving them. Tapping into both, internal & external, networks will result in better/faster value.
- Strategic & Purpose driven — Innovation should inform strategy and vice versa. As businesses move focus from shareholder value to stakeholder value, employee satisfaction, CSR initiatives, etc become more relevant. A CIO should factor these in and build a meaningful strategy.
- Visionary who can take risks — A CIO who has been an entrepreneur can bring the mastery of vision and what’s really possible to the table. In addition, having the sense of when and where it is appropriate to take risks is a huge advantage. Also shows the ability to deal with failure. This trait is key if you’re looking to accelerate growth.
- Advocacy, Influence & Teaching ability — Championing innovation and being good storytellers will help in rallying team members behind high potential ideas. Education component is an important part of the job as research and skill development are important in fostering innovation.
- Analytical thinking & Result oriented — Analytical thinking is how one decides to go ahead with an initiative or to shut it down, it justifies the method to this madness. Focusing on results will ensure that the initiatives have a business purpose.
- A great CIO will be able to bring it all together by leveraging the collective strength of the team in a complementary manner. There are more traits but these 6 are the fundamental ones.
“More than one-quarter of C-level executives surveyed, said they have a designated innovation leader, such as a chief innovation officer, in place at their organisation. 42% say they will create such a role to foster innovation.” – EY
Hiring a Chief Innovation Officer is a signal that the company is ready to institutionalise change and growth.
Do not set up an “Innovation Office” as a marketing move to garner eyeballs.
The ability to innovate has never been easier and will never be this effective again. In today’s business world, where there are so many cases of exponential growth and disruption, you must focus on innovation with priority, otherwise someone else will have a competitive edge over you.
As for the results of my Twitter poll, not one person ticked the self-actualization option. People were more concerned in 2022 with the basics of being secure in their homes and wanting to be loved.