A Different Way To Think About Innovation - Forbes

When I talk with executives about “innovation” they tend to immediately think about improvements to the central products or services that they offer consumers – better known as sustaining innovations. And yet, innovation can occur often in the most unsuspecting areas. When I worked in at a consumer packaged goods company, you had to identify, lead, and implement a process improvement that measurably improved the business before you could get promoted. I thought this was brilliant – until that moment, I had never thought about how the process and systems could improve or hinder growth. From that point on, I regularly assessed processes to see if there was a “better way” that would support growth.

Because I’m interested in helping marketers see innovation more broadly, I was excited to connect with Teresa Barreira, CMO of Publicis Sapient, who has been leading a series of innovations to drive better business results for her organization and firm. As part of a three-part series, Barreira explores one key innovation below that she uses to drive better business results.

Kimberly Whitler: Many leaders think innovation is about improving / adding products and services. What are your thoughts on innovation mechanisms that leaders can use to drive growth?

Teresa Barreira: Innovation is a lot like creativity. Many leaders think that to be creative you have to schedule it, sit down in a boardroom at 9AM, and ideate. It does not work this way. And innovation is similar. It cannot be done in a vacuum. You can’t schedule it. Or plan it. Truly innovative companies embed “innovation” into their DNA. If you look at Amazon, their site and app haven’t changed particularly in the last 5 years. Instead, they’ve created a culture that enables innovation through the use of agile methodologies and distributed decision making, which allows the company to pilot and scale products on their platforms at unprecedented speeds.

Whitler: Can you provide a non-obvious way in which you are innovating?

Barreira: I start with people – hiring unique talent that brings out-of-the-box thinking and skills, and then building an environment that provides them with room for growth. It is equally important to create a flexible environment that fosters experimentation and curiosity and allows each person to run their team as if it were their own business – very entrepreneurial. When hiring bright, passionate people, the culture and environment must support them by giving them autonomy and the discretion, the ability to exercise their own judgement and decision-making, and the respect for doing it. I have an incredibly diverse, non-traditional marketing team across every dimension: racial backgrounds, career experience, thought, culture, and ethnicity.

Whitler: Is this about observable or unobservable diversity? In other words, if we have 50% men and 50% women, are we now diverse?

Barreira: It is both. But difference in perspectives, knowledge, skills, background and experiences enables innovation.  For example, I wanted to hire somebody to head my data analytics team so I went and hired a data scientist. It didn’t work. Why? Because the person could not translate data into insight that would change the business. So, I went and hired an executive who was very adept at working with data scientists and could convert facts into insight that changed business decisions. Would most people think to hire a non-data scientist to run an analytics department? Perhaps not. But it is her focus on results, deep knowledge of digital, agile methodology, combined with her leadership, strategic ability, and unique way of thinking that enables her success.

Whitler: Do you have another example?

Barreira:  I tend to hire the non-obvious individual and usually look for something unique.  For example, I wanted somebody to run our content team. I wanted us to transform how we operated—to become faster, more agile, more relevant for the moment. I hired somebody from the Wall Street Journal – a completely different industry. In this case, the innovation was not the writing. She brought a different sensibility that enabled us to ramp up content, become more contemporarily relevant, and to think about content in very novel ways. In another example, I hired a political expert who had never worked in the private sector. The way that the person thought about solving problems—their lens—changed what we did and this is a very important mechanism that enabled us to be more innovative. Each drove greater results than I would have expected had I hired “traditional” profiles for their roles.

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A Different Way To Think About Innovation - Forbes
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