Which comes first, innovation or strategy? And how exactly should they work together? Dr. Evans Baiya explains.
Video Transcript:
Innovation. Strategy. What comes before what? Chicken/egg discussion that you always hear within an organization. We always say strategy is about the how. Innovation is the what. Strategy doesn’t—you don’t sell strategy. You sell innovation. But how you get to the what depends upon the strategy. So, the connection and the relationship between strategy and innovation is that you need to have a clear what. Which is your innovation: this is how I create value for my customers.
But how I deliver, the processes we use, the people we have, the markets we go to, the competition we have, how we deal with the competition, how we deal with VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous conditions or environments), all those different things are defined in the strategy. But your strategy doesn’t necessarily change the what, it just makes the delivery of the what clearer, faster, better, more efficient, and the most maximized value possible.
So, it’s not what versus what. It is actually what versus how. And therefore, we always tell executives and leaders: be clear in your strategy, be clear in the innovation. Right? And then, they work together. It’s and not either/or. It’s and. So, I know what I’m going to deliver to my customers and this is how I’m going to do that. That’s my strategy.
For more on how to prepare for, create, and optimize your strategy, order Dr. Baiya, Ron Price, and Professor Timothy Waema’s latest book Optimizing Strategy For Results: A Structured Approach to Make Your Business Come Alive (available March 15, 2022) or visit strategyforresults.com. | Header Photo via Peppershock.
