I am pleased to announce my contribution to a new book titled, Orchestrating Sustainable Innovation: A Symphony in Sound Bytes. I am excited to share my learnings and strategies for Open Innovation through partnerships that many consider “out-of-the-box.”
The authors, Marilyn J. Blocker, MSM, MBA, Megan Mitchell, and Andrea Zintz, Ph.D., invited innovators to write a chapter on their success stories and business experiences, including a section titled, “Leveraging and Managing Innovation: People, Partnerships, and Processes.” That’s where my chapter, “A Business Case for Strategic Partnerships and Alliances,” resides.
Here is an excerpt:
“Nowhere is an effective partnership more evident that in the interactions of members of jazz ensembles, where players listen carefully to one another, take turns with solo performances, and support each other by building on each other’s ideas. However, times have changed. Co-creation is also evident in today’s symphony orchestras, wherein some orchestra leaders collaborate with musicians on the type of music to be played and even how it’s to be played…”
I explain in this chapter how Leaders can facilitate differentiated and meaningful innovation by forming strategic partnerships and alliances with inventors and other entrepreneurs, suppliers, vendors, academic institutions, and other organizations—including competitors. Although it isn’t always easy to find and successfully engage the right partners, they can help organizations create more innovative cultures from the “outside in.”
Open innovation takes commitment and time on your part, but the results are worth your investment. Partnering can extend reach and capability by enabling businesses to experiment with lower risk and fewer internal resources. By sharing risk, leaders can often redeploy current resources for other possible innovations.
I go into more detail about how leaders can deliver differentiated and meaningful innovation through strategic partnerships and alliances that can leverage unique capabilities and competencies.
One of the biggest questions I often hear is about how leaders can ensure that potential partners have the required competencies. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to write this chapter, as choosing the right partners is crucial to the success of open innovation. If you’re wondering what the key challenges or pitfalls you may face in forming partnerships, or how to nurture and sustain your mutually beneficial partnerships, I encourage you to get a copy of this book when it comes out.
To see who’s featured in this book, click here. Click here to learn more about some of the enablers needed to effectively orchestrate innovation.
Look for the publication date soon!