To make innovation work, you must pull the right levers

THE task of making innovation work can be overwhelming due to insufficient value creation know-how or confusion about the right innovation levers that need to be pulled in order to come up with new ways of selling and delivering value to customers.

While mastering innovation is certainly not rocket science, it does require solid innovation management skills. Competent innovators know how to identify and seize innovation opportunities triggered by changes in industry and market structures such as the rapid growth of the sharing economy - consider Carousell (a Singaporean e-commerce company), Uber, and BMW's car-sharing service, DriveNow.

Company leaders who recognise the need to innovate and the danger of "big bang" disruptors "out there" without effectively strategising and structuring innovation efforts both internally and externally are well advised to re-examine the failure stories of Rollei, Kodak, Borders or Apple's PDA device, Newton. Often, however, those in charge are unwilling or unable to reflect on the past, to proactively anticipate (disruptive) challenges ahead, and to further develop innovation capabilities which would allow them to create a powerful portfolio of incremental and radical innovation initiatives with the "right" balance so that the organisation remains on top.