Finding Innovation Under the Tree - Our Editors - Harvard Business Review

Finding Innovation Under the Tree - Our Editors - Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review **
Finding Innovation Under the Tree ***
10:08 AM Thursday December 24, 2009 **
by Julia Kirby *

Harvard Business School *

I'm the mother of a nine-year-old boy, so I needed no introduction to SpinMaster's toys. Bakugan was a craze that tore through our town, and tore through again. What I remember is my own reaction the first time I saw one of these intricately engineered balls spring open into a battle-poised creature. "Whoa. How cool is that?," I said to my husband. And then, inevitably, "Why didn't they have these when we were kids?" *

Since SpinMaster is no one-trick pony, I wanted to find out what kind of thinking consistently produces hits like this. What lessons have the company's innovators learned along the way that we could all benefit from? Harary told me that as SpinMaster grew from a one-product startup to an innovation machine employing 700 people, there are three things he had to learn to appreciate the importance of: *

- Patience.*** Inventors are always pitching new toys to SpinMaster — there's no shortage of ideas — and they can generate all kinds of excitement, and urgency, in a conference room. "You've got to be truthful with yourself," Harary says, "and ask: Is this item or technology truly innovative? Is it new or unique? Does it have the magic?" *

- Champions. *** Ideas, no matter how cool, don't bring themselves to market. Every one of them needs "someone who can carry the ball from end to end, and take it to the end zone." That means someone who not only believes in the project and has the vision, but has the capability to put together the right team of people, and not get distracted by other projects. *

- Staying Power.*** Organizations have a depressing tendency to want to move on as soon as the going gets tough for a project, and when tempting new ideas beckon. Harary listed all the roadblocks that can make a team lose momentum: "getting the item to come in at cost, the item not working like you expect it to, competitors trying to knock your concept off, people telling you the item simply won't be commercially viable ..." The antsiness that results isn't unique to people who work with toys. It's hard, but imperative, for any new product developer "to stick to your vision, be financially committed to it, and ignore the naysayers." *

What's the moment of truth for an innovation at SpinMaster? Harary says it's the reaction to the prototype. But it may surprise you to learn that he's not talking about that moment when an inspired tinkerer walks in with a gadget — say, a little remote controlled car that can drive up a wall and across the ceiling. It's much later, after that concept has been subjected to all the engineering and development required to make it work well, and able to be mass produced at the desired cost. When Harary first saw the idea that became SpinMaster's 2009 award winner, it could stay on the wall or ceiling for just a few minutes. Months later, he stood in a room and watched an engineered prototype defy gravity for 10 minutes. "Then you know," says Harary. "At that point, we knew it could work." *

For me, of course, the Air Hogs Zero Gravity Micro has a different moment of truth. And it happens under a tree in a matter of hours. *

But let me refer back to point one above. Patience, my dear, patience. *

Acess Original Post With embedded link to the Air Hogs Zero Gravity Micro: http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2009/12/finding_innovation_under_the_t.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-DAILY_ALERT-_-AWEBER-_-DATE


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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.