We are finishing up a two-part series on innovation leaders. Innovation leadership skills go beyond the basic skills associated with managing people or processes. They are leadership styles to increase creativity, competency, and collaboration that result in innovations that contribute to the organization's success.

The Challenge

The Harvard Business Review recently said, "A major paradox managers face is that the systems that enable success with today's model reinforce behaviors that are inconsistent with discovering tomorrow's model." Today's rules and structures for organizations create innovation roadblocks. It's vital to appoint a leader with the characteristics to lead your innovation effort. Secondly, it's essential to support them with resources (people, time, and money) and give them space to work. 

9 Characteristics of Successful Innovation Leaders

Let's look at the nine characteristics every successful innovation leader needs. Firstly, innovation leaders need to be comfortable with risk. An innovation leader must have risk tolerance and analyze possible outcomes to make the best decision. Secondly, leaders need expertise in effective communication, conveying visions, commanding respect, and understanding ideas' inherent risks and advantages.

Thirdly, innovation leaders need to remain humble and open to new ideas. This will help cultivate an innovative organization. Next, innovation leaders need to have low anxiety since unnecessary stress depletes creativity. A leader with low anxiety will make their team feel comfortable and secure. 

The fifth characteristic is self-confidence, as innovation leaders constantly deal with unknowns. An innovation leader believes they'll succeed and stay positive. The next characteristic is being oriented towards action. Innovation leaders feel energized by action and enjoy leading change that produces innovation. Next, innovation leaders are active collaborators, creating a culture of trust, mutual respect, and shared aspiration of a mutual goal. Innovations that come from collaborative sharing can propel organizations to greater heights.

The eighth characteristic is being a rule breaker. Innovation leaders understand that consistently following the rules can become rigid and put people in a rut. They seek to generate insight and knowledge through non-traditional ways, such as experimentation, free exploration, improvisation, and breaking the rules of doing something. Lastly, an innovation leader needs to be a keen observer, perceiving new patterns and details. The ability to notice things that may have gone unnoticed helps innovation leaders make accurate assessments and figure out the best solution to a problem.

Resources

• https://yscouts.com/10-innovation-leadership-characteristics/
• https://blog.trginternational.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-collaborative-leadership
• https://workingcapitalreview.com/2019/12/removing-roadblocks-on-the-road-to-innovation/

Innovation is the secret sauce to success. Unfortunately, efforts to create innovative products or services often get derailed by good intentions, market factors, or other roadblocks holding us back.

Leadership Alignment

Business leadership has spent billions searching for innovation. From creating Innovation Centers to investing in incubators, organizations continue on a snipe hunt for innovation. It must be a snipe hunt because 94% of executives say they are frustrated with their company's efforts to harness innovation. The prominent paradox managers face is that systems enabling success based on today's management model reinforce behaviors inconsistent with an innovation culture.

Innovation leadership must remove the inertia barrier as a first step toward embracing innovation. To do this, start at the top with leaders that welcome and support new and more innovative ways of thinking. Leadership must lead with bold, creative ideas first. This will inspire the spark that can spread into a cultural conflagration of innovation over time.

8 Leadership Roadblocks to Innovation

Let's get specific on the eight leadership roadblocks that prevent organizations from achieving innovation success. Firstly, groupthink occurs when everyone makes the unspoken decision to follow the group's thinking. Groupthink stunts innovation and prevents some of the best ideas from being presented.

Secondly, there is burnout, which comes from firing on all cylinders, killing creativity. Innovation depends on creativity, so make sure to find time to rest. The third roadblock is a lack of resources, coming in time, people, and money. When innovation teams lack resources, it's hard to go past the ideas and into execution.

The fourth roadblock is insufficient trust, which is especially essential to innovation efforts. When trust within organizations is lacking, teams will be skeptical that their ideas will be executed and won't even try. The fifth roadblock is stopping at ideas. Ideas have to come with action by inspired and engaged employees. Letting good ideas die in the pipeline is a common innovation pitfall. Avoid that.

Roadblocks 6 to 8

Next is preferential treatment, stemming from managers not valuing diverse opinions or only valuing one person's opinion. This results in fewer ideas and low-impact innovations. The seventh roadblock is a lack of collaboration, which comes from leaders giving individual credit for ideas. This creates an unwillingness to collaborate with others. Without a strong culture of collaboration, an organizations' innovation efforts will fail.

Lastly, there is the roadblock of fear. It's not safe to fail when there isn't any trust that failure is a normal part of the innovation process. Sometimes, the riskiest ideas end up being the best, and innovation efforts suffer without them. Leaders who promote an innovation-friendly workplace culture are crucial in today's world. Doomed leaders and organizations are those who don't innovate.

Resources

6 Potential Roadblocks to Innovation

Navigating Innovation Roadblocks

Why is Collaborative Leadership Important?

To know more about about leadership roadblocks, listen to this week's show: 8 Leadership Roadblocks to Innovation.

[irp posts="4392" name="Subscribe to Podcast"]

Eric Yuan, the CEO of Zoom, is a longtime friend of mine whose leadership has positively impacted countless people. Zoom is a sponsor of the show, and we are honored to have Eric join us to discuss game-changing innovations. 

During COVID-19, Zoom saw explosive growth from schools, businesses, and individuals alike. Eric attributes two factors to Zoom’s success: the product’s architecture that supports a hybrid model and the ability to increase servers as more traffic arose. If more bandwidth were available, new features would be better, and quality would be higher.

Eric believes increasing bandwidth will be vital to Zoom’s future innovations. Zoom’s original goal was to create a quality video conferencing app, which they accomplished. In the future, Eric wants to transform Zoom into a platform company. He envisions bringing third-party contexts to the interface, such as games and other consumer apps. 

Healthcare and Education Innovation

Eric believes Zoom will be able to deliver a better meeting experience than face-to-face meetings. The opportunities are endless, from language translations during business meetings to doctors supporting live surgeries happening overseas. Eric is especially excited about Zoom’s future in telehealth and education. Patients can comfortably receive the care they need when they need it, and this will only improve.

Higher education institutions and K-12 schools leverage Zoom across the world. Eric believes the future of education will be a hybrid model, similar to the future of work. Killer innovations come from the right collaborations, bandwidth, and artificial intelligence integration. 

The Future of Work and New Features

Eric believes the future of work is hybrid because it offers employees flexibility and shields them from mental health problems. When Zoom creates new features, they always ask if the features will support a hybrid work system. Different businesses are trying different setups for their hybrid work models. Focusing on making remote workers feel connected is a guiding principle for Zoom’s innovations.

Recently, Zoom announced some exciting new features at Zoomtopia. They announced a live language translation feature. They also announced a Docusign integration and the adoption of other apps into the Zoom ecosystem. 

About our Guest: Eric Yuan

Eric Yuan is the billionaire founder of Zoom, a popular video communications tool that took flight during the coronavirus pandemic. Eric was previously one of the founding engineers at WebEx, which Cisco Systems acquired in 2007. He went on to become the VP at Cisco Systems.

Eric is a Chinese native that moved to Silicon Valley in 1997 after eight failed attempts to obtain a visa. Business Insider named Eric one of the most influential people in enterprise technology. In 2018, Glassdoor voted him as the number one CEO of large companies and added him to the Bloomberg 50 Most Influential list.

We are back to discuss impactful healthcare-related innovations, specifically disability innovation. Kevin Spencer is an award-winning magician who is passionate about developing children with autism.

Disability Innovation through Magic Tricks

Kevin is a magician known by many as “the kid whisperer.” Years ago, Kevin had a brain and spine injury from a motorcycle accident. During the therapy process, he started learning magic tricks to keep himself busy and motivated. After seeing how well it worked, he developed Magic Therapy, a program that uses simple magic tricks to boost motivation, curiosity, and creative expression.

When first testing the program, Kevin worked with adults but felt intimidated by children. He was hesitant to work with a child but took on the challenge. At first, his tricks weren’t doing anything, but the child became curious and engaged after the second trick. After the session, Kevin noticed the child’s father crying. The father told him that was the first time he had ever heard his child speak. After that experience, Kevin committed to developing children who have autism.

Hocus Focus

Kevin always wanted to be a magician and feels very privileged to use his passion in a way that impacts others. For kids told that they can’t do things, performing magic tricks gives them the ability to do something that a peer or sibling can’t do.

Kevin’s team created an innovative program designed for a school system called Hocus Focus. The magic tricks address the objectives of a child’s education program that develops functional skills. The tricks connect to a common core standard of learning. A teacher can use the trick to deliver academic content, and occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists can use the same trick to work on the child’s functional aspects.

Unlocking Creativity Through the Arts

Kevin and a colleague developed an assessment for teachers to measure the impact of the Hocus Focus program. Dozens of school districts in the U.S use the program, but the most significant market is overseas. There is a greater appreciation of the arts in foreign countries.

I believe we need to bring back the arts to the U.S school system. There are so many things to be learned from the arts with no other way to learn it. Magic tricks give those on the autism spectrum the opportunity to think with flexibility. There is amazing creativity buried inside them, and they need a way to express it. If we can find a way to support them and bring them into organizations, they can unlock unbelievable amounts of innovation.

About our Guest Kevin Spencer

Kevin Spencer is the Director at the Center 4 Creative Arts, a Fulbright Specialist & Subject Matter for the U.S Department of State, a Research Consultant for the UAB Arts in Medicine and Occupational Therapy Programs, and a Faculty member at Carlow University.

Kevin is an award-winning performing magician who has toured the world with his wife and partner for over 25 years. He also serves as a Teaching Artist through the Hocus Focus and Magic Therapy programs.

We are back in Texas with a venture capital firm and its FinTech portfolio company. Bryan Chambers and Joel Radtke join us to discuss venture capital innovation and the journey of an up-and-coming Texas startup.

Capital Factory is a firm that connects investors with new companies and talent. Texas has five of the twelve largest and fastest-growing cities in the U.S, making it a hot area for startups and investors. When it comes to raising capital, many middle-market companies struggle. They often run into various credit risks leading to rejection by banks.

Raising capital is where Joel Radtke and Collateral Edge come into play. Collateral Edge is a startup that uses technology to mitigate risk, allowing the borrower to secure needed bank loans, aiding both the lender and the borrower. Because of Collateral Edge’s technologies, banks can form new relationships that benefit them and their community.

Essentials of Venture Capital Innovation

When it comes to startups like Collateral Edge, people often make the mistake of failing to plan around their ideas. The value is not in the idea. It’s in the execution. It is vital to build a relationship with investors and help them fully understand the vision before asking them for money.

The team at Collateral Edge was patient in the process and built solid relationships. As a result, Collateral Edge has gained large Texas investors, New York investors with massive capital pools, Silicon Valley investors who have grown billion-dollar companies, etc. They intentionally targeted investors who could help with bank relationships, capital, and technology, which has paid off.

Bryan’s advice for innovators with ideas but no connections are simple. If you live in or near a large metropolitan area, you need to seek out the startup community. Looking for a community sounds easy, but it requires a lot of effort.

Step two is to work for somebody else who is building a startup. Building a startup is a complex and challenging thing to do. When you work for someone else’s startup, you will gain a wealth of knowledge that you can apply to your future startup efforts.

About Our Guests: Bryan Chambers and Joel Radtke

Bryan Chambers is the Vice President of Ventures at Capital Factory. He manages the statewide accelerator and investment operations for the venture capital firm.

He is a founding member of Venture Dallas, a venture capital conference in Dallas, Texas. Bryan is also a Professor of Entrepreneurship at UT Dallas and the Director of the UT Dallas Seed Fund for technology startups founded by students. Bryan holds a B.A. in Business Marketing and an M.B.A in Entrepreneurship from UT Arlington.

Joel Radtke is the Co-Founder, President, and Chief Operating Officer at Collateral Edge. Collateral Edge provides banks with an innovative, automated solution to bolster credit profiles on individual loans to allow greater underwriting flexibility while mitigating risk. He is the former Co-Founder and C.F.O. at United Orthopedic Group. Additionally, Joel has worked in the investment banking and private equity industries. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard University.