Innovation Culture and The Hero’s Journey

Overview:

A culture of innovation that can continuously change to ongoing external market shifts will be a critical source of competitive advantage for organizations over the next decade. The lessons for leading such a culture of innovation come from humanity’s earliest beginnings and are communicated through our myths. The authors discuss the use of the Hero’s Journey with modern change management and innovation techniques such as foresight, customer-centered research and lean startup, to anticipate challenges along an established road of creating a culture of innovation.

Keywords: :

• Innovation culture
• The Hero’s Journey
• Culture

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christian Crews

Christian Crews has more than 20 years’ experience applying foresight to innovation and strategy for large corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies. He designed and implemented the IRI2038 project for IRI in 2012–2013 and is a leading practitioner and innovator in scenario planning methods. He is the head of Wavepoint and a founding member and previous board member of the Association of Professional Futurists. He holds an MS in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston–Clear Lake and a BA in English from the College of William and Mary. [email protected]

Jim Euchner

Jim Euchner is editor-in-chief of Research-Technology Management. He previously held senior management positions in the leadership of innovation at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Pitney Bowes Corporation, and Bell Atlantic. He holds BS and MS degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Cornell and Princeton Universities, respectively, and an MBA from Southern Methodist University. He is the author of Lean Startup in Large Organizations: Overcoming Organizational Resistance (Productivity Press 2022). [email protected]

Andrea Kates

Andrea Kates is an expert at corporate strategy, transformation, and innovation. She has led growth initiatives in virtually every sector, including mobility, manufacturing/energy, technology, health care, B2C consumer goods/hospitality, and financial services. She published her original research in cross-industry growth in her book Find Your Next and in her masterclass series, Get to Next. As CEO of the San Francisco SaaS software company, she pioneered the application of Lean Startup with scale-up and large companies. In that capacity, she had visibility into more than 13,000 commercialization, technology, and innovation initiatives covering a broad spectrum of companies from government research labs to large companies (3M, Intel, Mayo Clinic). [email protected]