Network Innovation Strategies

I’ve been a huge fan of Tom Fishburne for years since we were classmates at Harvard Business School. Tom started drawing cartoons on the backs of HBS business cases, which evolve to become his famous and insightful Sky Deck cartoons.  I was always on the lookout for them. I invite my connections across all industries to subscribe to Tom’s insightful newsletter. Last week’s issue particularly resonated with me. Tom highlighted that labeling an idea as polarizing can quickly kill it, as businesses usually avoid such ideas in favor of safer, more universally appealing ones. However, there’s power in polarization. Trying to appeal to everyone often results in appealing to no one. In a cluttered world, the last thing a company can afford is to create indifference. Several years ago, I was helping the innovation group of a large carrier and saw firsthand the graveyard of idea killers. Many innovative ideas, often originating from those in the field who directly experience pain points, did not make it past the first round of evaluation. To help this carrier effectively evaluate innovative ideas and develop a repeatable process, we implemented a few key strategies: 1. Idea Champion Program: We assigned champions to promising ideas to advocate for them, gather feedback, and iterate on the concepts. 2. Cross-Functional Evaluation Committees: We created committees with members from various departments to ensure diverse perspectives in idea evaluation. 3. Fail Fast, Learn Faster: We encouraged a culture where failure is acceptable as long as we learn from it quickly. Prototyping and piloting ideas in controlled environments helped us make informed decisions. 4. Customer-Centric Approach: We focused on ideas that directly addressed customer/staff pain points, involving these stakeholders early in the development process. 5. Regular Review Cycles: We established regular review cycles for all submitted ideas to ensure they received proper attention. By implementing these strategies, we helped the carrier create an environment where innovative ideas could thrive. This process not only brought new solutions to the market but also fostered a culture of creativity and continuous improvement. Remember, the goal is not to avoid polarization but to harness it. Great ideas often provoke strong reactions, and that’s where their power lies. By creating a structured process to evaluate and nurture these ideas, we can ensure that they have the opportunity to make a significant impact. https://lnkd.in/eWfV_a-t

I’ve been fascinated by network theory ever since I encountered it in an Organizational Design class at university. Last week, during the Samudra Group all-trust meeting, Michael Arena shared compelling insights from his research, sparking some great conversations about how networks can be harnessed to create innovation and more effective and enduring transformations. Inspired by that discussion, I wanted to spotlight one of Michael’s publications in the MIT Sloan Management Review on using networks to drive culture change. Organizational culture often resists change because of hidden barriers and entrenched behaviors. This article offers a fresh perspective: combining culture surveys with network analysis to uncover collaboration patterns. By mapping these networks, leaders can identify hidden influencers, bridge silos, and tackle unseen tensions, enabling targeted and lasting cultural shifts. What can you as a leader do? 🔗Leverage subcultures: Don’t treat culture as monolithic. Use insights into diverse subgroups to tailor change strategies that resonate locally. 🔗Activate informal leaders: Informal influencers often have more impact on behaviors than formal leaders. Engaging them multiplies the reach of your efforts. 🔗Reframe disagreements: Surface and address tensions constructively to turn conflicts into aligned aspirations. 🔗Build on positive energy: Use relationships that energize and inspire employees to embed new cultural norms organically. 🔗Be patient with adoption: Cultural shifts take time. Role modeling and mentorship help behaviors take root and scale effectively. How are you leveraging your organization’s networks to tackle resistance and scale change? Have you faced unexpected challenges, and what approaches have worked for you? #OrganizationalCulture #Transformation #Strategy

Is your network stuck in the past while your business races toward the future? The path forward isn't just better tools; it's re-imagining team structure, leadership approach, and organizational culture. ➡️ Networks have evolved through three distinct eras: from establishing basic connectivity ("Can it work?") to improving user experience ("Can it work better?") to today's intelligent automation challenge ("Can it work smarter?"). ➡️ Organizations face a strategic choice based on whether their network is a utility or a competitive differentiator: Outsource to specialists through NaaS or build internal DevOps-like capabilities. ➡️ The biggest obstacle to network modernization isn't technology but organizational culture; successful transformation requires restructuring teams, leadership focused on outcomes, and embracing experimentation. ➡️ While vendors promote "intelligent" and "self-healing" networks, the reality for most organizations remains manual operations that struggle to meet modern demands of agility, security, scale, and complexity. ➡️ Forward-thinking CIOs are already applying third-era principles to enable new services, improve reliability, and shift network teams from maintenance to strategic business enablement. 🔗 Read the full article on Network Computing: https://lnkd.in/gWaibFxq #NetworkInfrastructure #NetworkOperations #DigitalTransformation

Launching innovations is less about creativity than it is about harnessing networks. Leaders who find and mobilize innovation catalysts by embedding themselves in close-knit yet diverse communities outside their own organization stand a better chance of discovering novel ideas that are feasible. Leaders who engage internal collaborators as sparring partners—ensuring that they each gather independent advice in one another’s areas of expertise—will be more successful at turning the ideas into winning business propositions. Finally, leaders who skillfully sequence feedback from critics in their networks from the inside out will achieve what often seems impossible: getting valuable input while avoiding early dismissive reactions. If executives follow these three practices, they will find that innovating in large, mature organizations is not only viable but highly promising. Arise (StrongHer) Ventures Ankita Vashistha Frank Pendle Tholons Inc.