Extending a Culture of Innovation
How can you create a culture of innovation beyond individual leaders? Tom Pedersen and Steve Monaghan explore how leaders can extend their vision and values throughout the organization. Tom emphasizes the importance of getting out of the way and providing a platform for experimentation and diverse perspectives. Humility plays a crucial role in being open to challenging ideas and different ways of thinking. Steve shares a powerful example of a CEO who demonstrated humility, backed down, and embraced change, leading to a successful outcome. The conversation highlights the significance of shared learning, experiences, and continuous engagement in shaping organizational culture. Breaking free from constraints and being open to new possibilities fosters a culture of growth and innovation.
Key Takeaways
- Creating a culture of innovation requires leaders to extend their vision and values throughout the organization.
- Leaders should not be afraid to “get out of the way” and provide a platform for experimentation and diverse perspectives.
- Humility is a crucial trait for leaders, allowing them to be open to challenging ideas and different ways of thinking.
- Embracing change and being willing to reconsider decisions is essential for fostering a culture of growth and innovation.
- Shared learning, experiences, and continuous engagement contribute to shaping a strong organizational culture.
The Conversation
Question: We’ve been talking about Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and leader competencies. But what we’re talking about more broadly today is, “How do you create a culture of innovation?” And of course, a culture is more than one person. A culture has to extend beyond the leader. From your experience, what can leaders do to extend their vision and values more broadly?
Tom: Get out of the way. Provide a platform for people to experiment. Not holding on to your position of leadership is the most important thing. If you’re only anchoring on your current context of, “I worked so hard to get to this place. I’m the person that makes the calls.” That’s a zero sum game.
We talk about these iconic CEOs, and I think one of the things that they’ve done is they hire really great people that work for them. They hired great people that have contradictory and complementary skills. They’re not afraid to be challenged a bit. And I think in leading change in an organization, the best thing a leader can have is—and this relates to what Steve’s talking about—is humility. Get out of the way.
Get out of the way doesn’t mean that you are not responsible or accountable for making a call. That’s what leaders in an organization get paid to do. They get paid to look at the variables and make a decision, and hopefully it goes in the right direction. But I think getting out of the way most times is a really important thing.
And what I mean is, get out of the way of ideas that are going to bubble up in the organization that are not your own. Get out of the way of different people that look at problems in a very different way. Get out of the way of people that are different than you and that work differently, that look differently, that think differently.
As an HR person, we’re going to say to build an inclusive culture where the best ideas can come to the fore. It’s true. If a leader thinks that she or he has all the answers, that’s really a recipe for failure. Even with the brightest executives and the best people in the organization. If they can’t learn, and learn quickly from people around them that have much different perspectives, then there’s not going to be a very bright future.
Steve: For me, culture is always driven by shared learning, shared experiences, and just a constant engagement and rigor around leadership. But instead of giving you that perspective, let me just give you an example.
I remember going into a meeting with the CEO of a large institution and presenting something to which he grew quite furious, slammed his hand on the table and said, “This is going to cost me $20 million!” So I waited until the end, and then I just looked at him and I said, “If it costs $20 million and then makes $100 million, who gives a beep?” using a correct word, of course.
Now many years later, I hear it’s that CEO’s number one priority. And what I admired with the CEO was that he had the humility to actually back down, reevaluate, commit, and move forward. Whereas many CEOs would A) have fired me, or B) completely just dug in and fought it.
So going back to that humility and learning, everyone that is faced with decisions at any level of the organization needs to be able to have perspective and be able to say no, but equally be open enough to change their mind. Too often we become invested in the constraints of how we think, and get stuck in the past. And that actually inhibits a culture from growing within the organization because then you’re just imposing an old culture down, and that does not work.
About the podcast
“Perspectives on Leadership and Innovation” is a podcast hosted by Tom Pedersen, Founder and CEO of BentoBox Innovation.
With special guest Steve Monaghan, General Partner, KK FinMirai.