I recently did a session in Helsinki, Finland on leadership in the era of innovation. My approach was interactive as I developed three short cases for the audience. We deep-dived into one of the, The Frustrated Innovation Team and very briefly discussed the other two. Here you can see the presentation slides (very simple as I focused on interaction and discussion).

1. As organizations transform themselves,
a new breed of executives will rule the
game.
Today, we will discuss cases based on this
belief and with a focus on leadership in the
era of innovation.

2. Three cases for you
1) An Executive Dilemma
2) The Frustrated Innovation Team
3) A Next Generation Corporate Accelerator

3. An Executive Dilemma
A CEO wants to transform a large
corporation and make it more competitive
through digitalization and innovation.
But it does not work. Progress lacks as it is
hard to get the executive team and the
organization aligned and engaged. What are
the next steps for the CEO?

4. The Frustrated Innovation Team
Many executives talk a lot about innovation,
but they don't really know how to make it
happen. A corporate innovation team asks
themselves:
How do we "educate" our executives on
innovation management and develop
stronger corporate innovation capabilities
together?

5. A Next Generation Corporate
Accelerator
Corporate accelerators and incubators are
hot topics within the global innovation
community.
Many great initiatives are in place, but a
corporate team ask themselves: How do
we create a next generation corporate
accelerator that works?

6. Your choice?
1) An Executive Dilemma
2) The Frustrated Innovation Team
3) A Next Generation Corporate Accelerator

7. An Executive Dilemma:
A CEO wants to transform a large
corporation and make it more competitive
through digitalization and innovation.
But it does not work. Progress lacks as it is
hard to get the executive team and the
organization aligned and engaged. What
are the next steps for the CEO?

8. An Executive Dilemma
• Focus on the root causes, not the barriers
• Build corporate foundation (capabilities) as well as
execution engine. Get executive skin in the game
with a core team
• Most executives don’t understand innovation.
(Middle managers stop innovation just by doing their
job)
• What’s in it for me? Know this first, then align with
corporate strategy. Communicate in new ways
• There is no digital strategy. Just a digital world

9. What is your key take away?
An Executive Dilemma
on LinkedIn by Stefan Lindegaard.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/executive-dilemma-progress-
digitalization-innovation-lindegaard

10. The Frustrated Innovation Team:
Many executives talk a lot about innovation,
but they don't really know how to make it
happen. A corporate innovation team asks
themselves:
How do we "educate" our executives on
innovation management and develop
stronger corporate innovation capabilities
together?

11. The Frustrated Innovation Team
• First, understand what is your problem. Then,
understand why executives do not get innovation
• Executives listen to peers; not to you or external
advisors
• Work with HR – when/if they are ready. Don’t go full
frontal with learning activities
• Align efforts to corporate strategy, know your mandate
in this context – and change it if needed
• Is your team ready?

12. What is your key take away?
The Frustrated Innovation Team
on LinkedIn by Stefan Lindegaard
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/frustrated-innovation-team-what-
should-do-stefan-lindegaard

13. A Next Generation Corporate
Accelerator:
Corporate accelerators and incubators are
hot topics within the global innovation
community.
Many great initiatives are in place, but a
corporate team ask themselves: How do
we create a next generation corporate
accelerator that works?

14. A Next Generation Corporate Accelerator
• What’s in it for the corporate? Speed, execution,
education, talent attraction/retention
• “Avoiding the Kodak Moment by Providing Insights
and Being Able to Execute on Them.”
• What’s in it for the ecosystem? Should you focus
beyond startups? If so, where?
• There is no digital strategy. Just a digital world and
you need to act accordingly
• Execution is key. Build flexible frameworks based on
networked business structures and go all in on digital
for this

15. What is your key take away?
A Next Generation Corporate Accelerator
on LinkedIn by Stefan Lindegaard
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/next-generation-corporate-
accelerator-stefan-lindegaard

16. Stefan Lindegaard
A global thought leader on corporate
transformation, digitalization and innovation
management.
Follow my work on LinkedIn.
www.transformxo.com (launch this week)
stefanlindegaard@me.com

17. Extended notes for my use.

18. An Executive Dilemma
• Focus on the root causes, not the barriers
• Don’t work with a committee (that too often can’t act). Get skin
executive in the game with a core team
• Most executives do not really understand innovation
• Middle managers stop innovation just by doing their job
• Know who to educate and upgrade on corporate transformation,
digitalization and innovation
• Build the corporate foundation (capabilities) as well as an
execution engine
• There is no digital strategy. Just a digital world
• Communicate in new ways with stakeholder management and
networking as key elements
• What’s in it for me?

19. The Frustrated Innovation Team
• First, understand what your problem is. Next, understand why
executives do not get innovation
• Executives need to have skin in the game
• Executives listen to their peers; not to you or external advisors
• Work with HR – when/if they are ready
• Don’t go full frontal on the learning activities
• Align your efforts to the corporate strategy
• Know your mandate – and change tit if needed
• Is your team ready?
• Talk less about innovation, remove the Chief Innovation Officer

20. A Next Generation Corporate Accelerator
• What’s in it for the corporate? Speed, education, talent
attraction/retention
• “Avoiding the Kodak Moment by Providing Insights and Being
Able to Execute on Them.”
• What’s in it for the ecosystem? Should you focus beyond
startups? If so, where?
• There is no digital strategy. Just a digital world and you need to
act accordingly
• Execution is key. Build flexible frameworks based on networked
business structures and go all in on digital for this
• The title of the program is important. Communication matters