Three Lessons On Innovation I
Learned During My 12 Years At Apple
As one veteran
of Apple's early forays into digital music explains, nothing slows things down
like seeking consensus.
Before Apple
Music,
before the iPad, even before the mp3, I had a front-row seat and backstage
access to the digital music revolution.
During
my 12-year tenure at Apple, from the late ’80s and to the early 2000s, I helped
lead the team that launched some of Apple's earliest innovations in music and
entertainment. We developed the strategies, marketing initiatives, and
relationships with content creators and media companies—across music, film, and
TV—that laid the foundations that iTunes and subsequent innovations were later
build upon.
Since then, my friend and colleague Dave
Ulmer has literally written the book (or one of them, anyway) on innovation and
corporate culture. Drawing on his work in The Innovator’s Extinction, here are three key
lessons that characterize my experience at Apple and strike me as more relevant
than ever today.
Nothing
slows work down like waiting for everyone to agree.
Nothing
slows work down like waiting for everyone to agree. I was fortunate in the wide
latitude I had at Apple; the way I managed relationships with major artists and
bigwigs inside the company was entirely at my discretion. My superiors didn’t
have the experience, context, or insight to navigate those often
larger-than-life personalities—and they were comfortable with that.
When
I had to negotiate with Fred Astaire’s widow, Robyn Smith, for the rights to
use his image in a campaign, for instance, there were a few tricky moments. But
because I was used to dealing with celebrity demands and knew how to work with
them, we handled the concerns and negotiated a successful outcome without
fanfare. Apple's management trusted me to drive these efforts in a way that
would leave everyone happy.
Companies first need to offer their team
leaders this high degree of independence in order to innovate. Then, once
you've been given the budget and authority, you need to take advantage of both.
Don’t stop to build consensus on method. It's about mutual respect for
expertise; if you’re working with other innovators, don’t expectthem to
stop to build consensus, either. No talented creative artists I know ever ask
for permission; they just create.
You
don’t need approval to experiment and put innovative ideas into action—or you
shouldn't, anyway. Companies that require interim approval and constant
progress reports hamper innovation. Real breakthroughs can’t happen if you’re
constantly stopping to present your work midway through, second-guessing
yourself all the time.
That
doesn't mean a completely hands-off approach, of course, but it does require a
culture where innovators are trusted to see their own work through. Chances are
that will demand plenty of collaboration anyway—all without round after round
of rubber-stamping. When working on complex cross-functional marketing
campaigns at Apple, I took it upon myself to consult with colleagues across the
company, but only to let them provide feedback on materials particularly
relevant to their own expertise.
At
the time, this type of cross-divisional collaboration wasn't common practice at
Apple—silos were more the norm—so my colleagues were thrilled just to have a
voice and a vote. These efforts not only strengthened the campaigns, they also
allowed me to forge deeper, long-term relationships with those colleagues.
For
instance, when we created a campaign aimed at the music, film, and TV
industries, I took draft versions of our in-progress materials over the
marketing and engineering teams. They were glad to be looped in and have a
stake in the messaging and positioning of the product. I didn’t seek approval
from management beforehand, though; I took the initiative and used my own
judgment, which was ultimately appreciated by all.
Kodak's story is by now well known: Once the
leader in camera technology, for a time it accounted for 90% of film and 85% of camera sales in America. It even
invented the digital camera. But, unwilling to shift its internal status quo,
Kodak soon found itself on the outskirts of the market it helped to create.
.
When it comes to innovation, that
phenomenon is all too common. If your team is unwilling to question
received wisdom, it’s your job to push them to do it. Oddly enough, convincing
the powers that be at Apple that music and entertainment were key markets was
actually a real challenge for me. Then Steve Jobs returned to the company and
launched the iPod and iTunes, both of which leveraged the foundation, legacy,
and relationships we'd created, often hand over fist, in previous years.
Fighting
the status quo can be tricky in a corporate setting. If you find yourself pushing
innovation to a reluctant team, try some of these strategies:
· Create
a risk profile for your current strategy the way you would for a new
opportunity. Looking at the trends you already know about—and considering
you'll inevitably face some that you so far don't—how does maintaining the
status quo increase your risk?
· Show
how the steps you recommend can lead to an increased return on investment,
keeping in mind that you'll need to define ROI in a way that resonates with
upper management.
· Shine
the spotlight on indecision and help teammates get more comfortable taking
action with incomplete information. Ask, "How much do we really need to
know before making a decision?"
· Diplomatically
resolve turf wars that hold the company back. When new products risk cannibalizing
old businesses, emotions unavoidably get heated. Still, it’s better for an
internal department to innovate than for an external competitor to gain an
advantage.
Companies
can’t afford to stay stagnant, and that means getting better at recognizing and
practicing innovation. We won’t drive the next revolution without it.
KELLI RICHARDS
http://www.fastcompany.com/3058271/lessons-learned/three-lessons-on-innovation-i-learned-during-my-12-years-at-apple?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-daily-newsletter&position=2&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=03282016
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