Kingdon - The science of serendipity: how to unlock the promise of innovation

This edition first published in 2012 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

2012 ?What If! Limited

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-1-118-47810-3

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-118-47810-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-118-47811-0 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-118-47812-7 (ebk) ISBN 978-1-118-47813-4 (ebk)

Set in 10.5/16pt ITC Mendoza Roman by Sparks www.sparkspublishing.com

Text design by ?What If! Limited

Printed in Italy by Printer Trento

This book is dedicated to my great friend, business partner and co-enthusiast of 20 years in this crazy business Dave Allan

The ultimate how to guide for the corporate innovator! Matt is the champion of all those hard-working people trying to make innovation work at scale.

Sir Charles Allen, CBE

In an inspirational and practical book, Matt explores the logic of magic at work and gives us new tricks to make it happen. Read only if you are ready to behave accordingly!

Marc Mathieu, Senior Vice President, Unilever

At Zappos, our belief is that if we get the culture right, most of the other stuff, like delivering great customer service or building a long term enduring brand, will happen naturally on its own. This book lifts the lid on much of the hard work needed to create buzzing, innovative and adventurous companies.

Tony Hsieh, NY Times best-selling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc.

One of the rare business books that you will actually read from start to finish.

Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, London Business School

Matt Kingdon has woven twenty years of front-line innovation experience into a compelling offering for the many heroic innovators working against the odds in established organisations. Bottom line: you are not alone and this is the practical guide for you.

John Kao, founder of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation, creator of Harvard Business Schools innovation program, Chair of the World Economic Forums Global Advisory Council on Innovation, author of Jamming , and Frank Zappas keyboard player

Introduction

The Real Heroes of Innovation

W hat could be more exciting than starting with a blank sheet of paper and creating something of real value? Making something out of nothing, pointing to something thats in the marketplace and saying I did that.

In life, there isnt much thats more exciting than this.

Being in the right place at the right time, seeing what no one else has seen, connecting the dots and having the perseverance to drive an idea all the way to launch and commercial success. This is the entrepreneur story that we know well.

But somehow this story has been stolen by the start-up. The word entrepreneur or even innovation has become synonymous with supercool, hyperintelligent and astonishingly young guys making millions.

I want to explore something thats equally as challenging as the start-up story and if you get it right highly rewarding. I want to explore the story of innovation in large organisations where the need to refresh is ever-present. All companies were start-ups once and for many of them that spirit lies dormant, waiting to be reactivated.

This book gets under the skin of how you can make innovation really happen in organisations that have an embedded operational mindset. In my experience these are generally large organisations. I hope you find it a practical book, rich in the stories and lessons learned from the frontline of corporate innovation.

Established companies have their own rhythm and new suggestions are often met with crossed arms. These companies know they need to take a few risks and try doing things differently. But its tough, really tough. There seem to be roadblocks everywhere. The organisation is almost hardwired to repeat success and reduce risk, and now it is being asked to do the opposite. Somehow the battle to innovate is being fought at work and not in the marketplace.

Every few years at ?What If! we take the innovative temperature of our clients. In 2012 we asked 50 senior executives responsible for innovation in large global companies to tell us how the innovation landscape was changing. They told us that the future feels much more uncertain, that it has become extremely difficult to plan for innovation and that executives need to be better equipped to deal with ambiguity. They reported that the need for disruption is forcing people to look beyond their category and comfort zone and that stakeholder relationships are getting more complex, with more hurdles to overcome than ever before.

Its in places like these that the real heroes of business work. To innovate at scale and create wealth and employment for many is in my view the most noble of commercial challenges. I want to tell the stories of the people who do this, how they have struggled, how they have succeeded and what this can teach us.

I want all those executives whove had their entrepreneurial mojo beaten out of them or who think its the preserve of the groovy to think again. After 20 years of innovating with large companies I know that serendipitous invention and the creative exploitation of ideas is a muscle that you can choose to work out or allow to wither.

Serendipitous invention and the creative exploitation of ideas is a muscle that you can choose to work out or allow to wither

Serendipity or seemingly happy accidents is a fascinating concept and Ill define it in detail in just a few pages. The concepts of serendipity and innovation are sibling and they somewhat merge in this book. Serendipity is the connective raw material for successful innovation. Its an important element of innovation, especially in a large company where many have their heads down and their peripheral vision reduced. Innovation is the commercialising of what looks to the outsider like a lucky break. You cant deliver innovation in a large organisation unless you have a practical grip on what serendipity really is and how you can make it work for you.