Organization & Structure

Corporate Venture Capital

Why Bosch’s €200 Million Venture Builder Isn’t About the P&L

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8 min read

Why Bosch’s €200 Million Venture Builder Isn’t About the P&L

Bosch’s venture unit creates startups to explore markets the company has yet to enter. It builds them on unused patents and places them in separate companies outside the corporation, run by outside founders and venture studios.

Corporate Venture Capital

Separate From Day One: How JLR, Old Mutual and PwC Set Up Ventures

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4 min read

Separate From Day One: How JLR, Old Mutual and PwC Set Up Ventures

Only 22% of venture building programs give founders equity. At JLR, Old Mutual and PwC, founders get a stake — while every venture starts life as its own company.

Corporate Venture Capital

Still Standing: Would Your Venture Unit Survive Its Next Budget Review?

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4 min read

Still Standing: Would Your Venture Unit Survive Its Next Budget Review?

Units that last don’t try to remove their internal tensions. Seven years of research with more than 100 corporate venture leaders shows the routines they use to manage those tensions instead.

Stakeholder Alignment & Engagement

How to Get Business Units To Adopt AI (Without Forcing Them)

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3 min read

How to Get Business Units To Adopt AI (Without Forcing Them)

At Philips, AI can cut a seven-months decision on a new value proposition to about a day. To get business units to adopt the tools, the central team first connected the data and showed each unit its savings in euros.

Leadership

What's the Center For When the Business Owns Innovation?

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4 min read

What's the Center For When the Business Owns Innovation?

Synthomer's central innovation team lost its pipeline, its agenda, and the divisions' trust. David Ring redefined its role around one rule: only do what makes each division more successful than it would be alone.

Program Management

The Innovation Function That Keeps Outgrowing Itself

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6 min read

The Innovation Function That Keeps Outgrowing Itself

ILUNION Hotels has run innovation through three operating models in 12 years. Each one delivered, then hit its limit: first capacity, then reach. The third is now running into a question of control.

Leadership

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5 min read

Every Innovation Needs a Bridger

Curate, translate, integrate: how bridgers at Delta, Mastercard and DIFC get competing teams working together.

Scaling

How Mars Stopped Losing Good Products After Launch

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8 min read

How Mars Stopped Losing Good Products After Launch

Mars's new gum launched in January and became its best-selling SKU by rate of sale since 2019. It's now scaling across global markets. This isn't a lucky shot, however.

Stakeholder Alignment & Engagement

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4 min read

Talk Growth, Not Innovation

CEOs change. Growth targets don't.

Program Management

Building Future Relevance: How Venture Labs Challenge the Companies That Fund Them

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4 min read

Building Future Relevance: How Venture Labs Challenge the Companies That Fund Them

Delivering prototypes isn't enough. To be successful, a venture lab needs the decision power to select which ideas to pursue.

Program Management

The Synergies That Turn Innovation Programs into Growth Factories

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6 min read

The Synergies That Turn Innovation Programs into Growth Factories

Most innovation programs fail because they pull one lever in isolation.

Leadership

The Innovator's Dilemma for 2026: Two Survival Strategies

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5 min read

The Innovator's Dilemma for 2026: Two Survival Strategies

Macroeconomic volatility, stock market expectations, internal pressure to deliver ROI: the magnifying glass is set on innovation in 2026. But there's not just one way to respond.

Leadership

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7 min read

Innovation Leadership: Mastering the Periscope, the Stethoscope, and the Horoscope

Balancing long-term vision with short-term execution.

Leadership

Reinventing the Innovation Function For the Realities of 2026

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4 min read

Reinventing the Innovation Function For the Realities of 2026

The innovation functions that survive 2026 will look fundamentally different from those designed in the 1990’s.

Leadership

Breaking the Cycle of Hesitation: How to Operationalize Speed

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5 min read

Breaking the Cycle of Hesitation: How to Operationalize Speed

Corporate hesitation is rarely a strategy; it’s the symptom of outdated structures, misaligned incentives, and a cultural bias toward safety.

Leadership

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6 min read

Playing to Win vs. Playing to Learn

It's the role of the innovation team to generate data about the future that the core business cannot see.

Leadership

Eliminate Ambiguity, Correct Asymmetry and Promote Accountability With An Innovation Mandate

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8 min read

Eliminate Ambiguity, Correct Asymmetry and Promote Accountability With An Innovation Mandate

An Innovation Mandate serves as a contract between the senior management (the organizational level) and the professionals conducting the work (the portfolio and project levels).

Leadership

Fixing the Systemic Issues That Block Innovation

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6 min read

Fixing the Systemic Issues That Block Innovation

How to evolve org structures, governance systems and talent practices to build what's next.

Leadership

Builders vs. Enablers vs. Architects: Getting Team Orientation Right

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5 min read

Builders vs. Enablers vs. Architects: Getting Team Orientation Right

Once you understand the "Jobs To Be Done", you can determine what type of team you actually need.