Many of the most pressing challenges that face certain companies and mankind are unlikely to be addressed by incremental improvements to existing activities and excellence in the performance of them. In competitive and dynamic situations and where windows of opportunity may be limited, quick and front-line responses may be required. An existing business model should not be taken for granted. Leaders need to ensure that people focus upon what is important and, particularly, upon what is important for customers and prospects. Leaders can focus on removing obstacles to creativity rather than determining individual outcomes. The focus of business leaders should be upon creating a culture of excellence and innovation and/or providing the conditions and performance support for people from a diversity of backgrounds and cultures to excel where it matters.

Many corporate leaders have roles in businesses which they themselves did not create. They may have had little contact with founder entrepreneurs. In competitive markets, their challenges might appear to be survival and defending established market positions against competitors and new entrants. The immediate priorities might seem to lie in areas such as cost-cutting, retrenchment, improving efficiency and the renewal and/or transfor-mation of an existing entity rather than growth.

What do or should innovation and growth mean for those leading established enterprises?

The growth and development of companies has often been a matter of actively finding or stumbling across a formula such as business excellence or a business model that works and then sticking with it and related corporate assumptions, values and norms while scaling up operations. In competitive and fast moving contexts, a track record of past achievements may no longer be an indicator of future success. Resting upon one’s laurels and passing on war stories and lessons from the past can be a recipe for disaster where renewal, re-invention and innovation are required.

Corporate Leadership, Business Innovation and Growth