Name: Expectation versus reality
Uploaded: 2022-09-23T13:07:03.385Z
Description: What is success and what is failure? Mike Hatrick, Group Director of IP Strategy and Portfolio at Volvo Group, explains his 10 step map to success from the beginning of an innovation programme to end in an excerpt from our recent video 'Why corporate innovation fails'.

Expectations versus reality.vtt

English

{{00:00:21}}
Although the people who stand
up at conferences and talk about

{{00:00:24}}
success are great, there's also
a big sort of bedrock of people

{{00:00:29}}
who've experienced failure.

{{00:00:31}}
And I started thinking,
well, why is this?

{{00:00:34}}
It's not as easy as doing X, Y,
Z, and everything will be great.

{{00:00:37}}
This is really, really
complicated and hard.

{{00:00:40}}
And I've experienced that and
see my friends experience it.

{{00:00:44}}
But what is success
and what is failure?

{{00:00:46}}
Some of the conclusions I came
to is that, for example, I think

{{00:00:49}}
whenever a big company launches
an innovation program, it starts

{{00:00:55}}
off with a great deal of ambition.

{{00:00:58}}
There is huge excitement engagement
goes through the roof, people

{{00:01:02}}
jump on board this initiative.

{{00:01:04}}
And then there's probably a period
where there's kind of, you know,

{{00:01:09}}
this kind of grief curve of oh no.

{{00:01:11}}
What have we started?

{{00:01:12}}
And are we achieving?

{{00:01:13}}
We're running out of time.

{{00:01:16}}
And a feeling of urgency and it
can eventually end up in a bit

{{00:01:20}}
of a feeling of panic, I think.

{{00:01:23}}
And then it ends.

{{00:01:24}}
And I think that's partly why people
at the end feel a bit deflated.

{{00:01:27}}
Some people are really over
overachieving during that time,

{{00:01:31}}
they've got high ambitions.

{{00:01:33}}
The organization doesn't
necessarily support that.

{{00:01:36}}
So you end up with this kind of
split of how people feel at the end.

{{00:01:41}}
So I started thinking, is
this really the right route?

{{00:01:47}}
And I read all the books and I
did the trainings and I went to

{{00:01:50}}
conferences and started putting
these structures in place.

{{00:01:53}}
But when I look back
and how we did get.

{{00:01:56}}
It wasn't really involving any of that.

{{00:01:59}}
What I realized was that it
all started with an idea.

{{00:02:03}}
So a couple of us had an idea and
then we took the step to realize

{{00:02:07}}
that this was a potentially big idea.

{{00:02:10}}
And then we had the luxury of
having some time and not so much

{{00:02:12}}
pressure, and the idea incubated.

{{00:02:14}}
It was actually me and also
the customer who had the idea.

{{00:02:18}}
And there was a funny event where
a few months later, where I was

{{00:02:22}}
with this person, having not seen
them for a while, and they said

{{00:02:24}}
they'd been working on an idea.

{{00:02:25}}
And I said, oh yes, so have I.

{{00:02:27}}
It turns out it was the same thing.

{{00:02:29}}
And then we said, actually,
there might be something in this.

{{00:02:32}}
Maybe we should go for it.

{{00:02:33}}
So yeah, that was a bit of a shock to
realize this might be something useful.

{{00:02:37}}
And then we started
really going for it.

{{00:02:40}}
So having allowed it to incubate,
we said, let's make it happen.

{{00:02:44}}
Let's start to move forward.

{{00:02:46}}
And I think actually, certainly what
helped at the time was that me and

{{00:02:50}}
the people in my company who were
working on it were young and naive.

{{00:02:54}}
You know, we sort of didn't
know what we didn't know.

{{00:02:57}}
So we didn't see the rest of the
problems I had with this thing

{{00:03:01}}
that we were starting to develop.

{{00:03:02}}
And we had a great working environment
in terms of the fund that we

{{00:03:05}}
had, all sorts of silly things.

{{00:03:08}}
You know, the Monty Python guys say
it's very important to be silly.

{{00:03:10}}
We certainly did that.

{{00:03:11}}
We had things like we
were traveling a lot.

{{00:03:13}}
We had a rule that everybody who
came back from a business trip

{{00:03:16}}
had to bring a terrible present.

{{00:03:19}}
And we collected these in
a big area in the office.

{{00:03:23}}
So it was like a focal point of fun.

{{00:03:25}}
We became great friends, we
were going on holidays together.

{{00:03:29}}
We were skiing together,
doing sports together.

{{00:03:32}}
So this was just like a golden period.

{{00:03:34}}
And I think the thing was as well we
had chiefs who kind of let it happen.

{{00:03:39}}
They let it happen.

{{00:03:40}}
They saw that something was
germinating and they were

{{00:03:42}}
there to catch us when we fell.

{{00:03:43}}
And we did fall, we
made lots of mistakes.

{{00:03:46}}
We also had grey beards.

{{00:03:47}}
I'm the grey beard now.

{{00:03:48}}
But at the time there were people
in the customer organization

{{00:03:51}}
who, you know, would gently
correct us with their experience

{{00:03:54}}
and their wisdom whenever they
thought it was appropriate.

{{00:03:58}}
And last but not least, there
was a bit of luck involved.

{{00:04:01}}
There was definitely serendipity.

{{00:04:03}}
Having the idea come along at a
time when we weren't pressured

{{00:04:08}}
to move forward quickly.

{{00:04:09}}
The right people were around
on all sides of the story.

{{00:04:12}}
You know, if you, if you
break that down and think,

{{00:04:14}}
what does that look like?

{{00:04:15}}
It's nothing like out of a
sort of a traditional corporate

{{00:04:19}}
innovation program where you have
structure processes, platforms

{{00:04:23}}
to submit ideas and so on.

{{00:04:26}}
And this was a bit of a shock
to me as somebody who had

{{00:04:30}}
advocated, all of those things.

Although the people who stand
up at conferences and talk about

success are great, there's also
a big sort of bedrock of people

And I started thinking,
well, why is this?

It's not as easy as doing X, Y,
Z, and everything will be great.

This is really, really
complicated and hard.

And I've experienced that and
see my friends experience it.

Some of the conclusions I came
to is that, for example, I think

whenever a big company launches
an innovation program, it starts

There is huge excitement engagement
goes through the roof, people

And then there's probably a period
where there's kind of, you know,

And a feeling of urgency and it
can eventually end up in a bit

And I think that's partly why people
at the end feel a bit deflated.

Some people are really over
overachieving during that time,

The organization doesn't
necessarily support that.

So you end up with this kind of
split of how people feel at the end.

So I started thinking, is
this really the right route?

And I read all the books and I
did the trainings and I went to

conferences and started putting
these structures in place.

What I realized was that it
all started with an idea.

So a couple of us had an idea and
then we took the step to realize

And then we had the luxury of
having some time and not so much

It was actually me and also
the customer who had the idea.

And there was a funny event where
a few months later, where I was

with this person, having not seen
them for a while, and they said

And then we said, actually,
there might be something in this.

So yeah, that was a bit of a shock to
realize this might be something useful.

So having allowed it to incubate,
we said, let's make it happen.

And I think actually, certainly what
helped at the time was that me and

the people in my company who were
working on it were young and naive.

You know, we sort of didn't
know what we didn't know.

So we didn't see the rest of the
problems I had with this thing

And we had a great working environment
in terms of the fund that we

You know, the Monty Python guys say
it's very important to be silly.

We had things like we
were traveling a lot.

We had a rule that everybody who
came back from a business trip

And we collected these in
a big area in the office.

We became great friends, we
were going on holidays together.

We were skiing together,
doing sports together.

And I think the thing was as well we
had chiefs who kind of let it happen.

They saw that something was
germinating and they were

And we did fall, we
made lots of mistakes.

But at the time there were people
in the customer organization

who, you know, would gently
correct us with their experience

and their wisdom whenever they
thought it was appropriate.

And last but not least, there
was a bit of luck involved.

Having the idea come along at a
time when we weren't pressured

The right people were around
on all sides of the story.

You know, if you, if you
break that down and think,

It's nothing like out of a
sort of a traditional corporate

innovation program where you have
structure processes, platforms

And this was a bit of a shock
to me as somebody who had

Expert Insight

What is success and what is failure? 
Mike Hatrick, Group Director of IP Strategy and Portfolio at Volvo Group, explains his 10 step map to success from the beginning of an innovation programme to end in an excerpt from our recent video 'Why corporate innovation fails'.

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Mike Hatrick

Group Director IP Strategy and Portfolio  

Launching a new innovation programme starts with high ambitions might turn into a "grief curve" and then to panic mode?

Chapter 1: What is success and what is failure?

Mike Hatrick explains how he decided to ask whether this is really the right route after he saw lots of people "burn out".
He presents a 10 step map to success including: curiosity, big ideas, incubation, shock, taking action, naivety, playfulness and fun, brave chiefs, greybeards and finally luck. 
