7 / 24
feature
understanding the nature of those risks and
aligning your priorities and investments.”
DARPA’s strategy of appointing parallel
teams that each pursue a different research
track is a form of risk hedging: the logic is
that at least one team is bound to succeed.
Another approach is to finance small steps
instead of investing a huge sum on one
enormous, risky bet.
Roos shares the example of an automotive
company that was investing billions in
R&D, yet the fear of failure kept it from truly
innovating.
“There are certain risks you can do nothing
about, but this company tried to ignore
them. Risks and failure were not tolerated,
and this became a blockage. We helped them
develop a new way to identify and talk about
risks to get the creative juices flowing again.”
With digitization changing the ball game,
organizations are increasingly moving from
a ‘not invented here’ to ‘proudly found
elsewhere’ mindset.
“When you push into new territory, you
need new skills. Sometimes the shortest route
to get there is open innovation. Successful
companies are increasingly embracing open
innovation ecosystems,” notes Roos.
“Innovation is and will be the driver of
change in the years to come. Embracing
a culture of innovation gives companies
an edge over competitors and helps them
stay ahead of the curve. But culture is an
omnivore; it eats everything for breakfast.
A poor or great culture is both the cause and
the effect of innovation performance,” he
says. /
7