Innovation for Growth

If McKinsey says it, there may be something in it…

Their survey across 9000 global business execs (2005 McKinsey Quarterly Number 2) identified innovation as “the most important capability for growth of their business over the next five years.”

But what was it that those 9000 troubled execs were all talking about as they identified the competition creeping up behind them? What is this thing called innovation? The truth is that the answer to that question is probably different for pretty much every company. And that is surely the point about innovation - how could there be a generic innovation product or process that would be right for everybody?

In some senses innovation is also about craftsmanship - someone with a vision having the ability to get the best out of the materials that they are working with (in this context, the corporate bottom line, the company product/service/offering and the people who work there). Which is why we believe at Heroes that it is make-or-break to select the right person for your own company’s innovation process. We manage a rosta of world class innovative thinkers who all have very different ways and methods and outcomes attached to their approach to innovation.

Heroes will work with you to identify what you are aiming to achieve in your innovation programme and will then put you together with two or three truly brilliant Heroes who have a track record in the sector, are at the top of their game and can have that positive innovation impact on your business that McKinsey’s identified as being the catalyst for growth. It is then for you to identify the one who will work best with your culture, politics, timescales and desired outcomes.

The beauty of the Heroes approach is that your own Hero will not get bogged down with internal politics, company hierarchy, protocol or any of those other issues that inherently hamper the innovation process. Heroes are there for the time that they are needed and will then either go completely or we will re-work the relationship and they will act as on-going guides or catalysts for change across a longer period of time. But they will never be hanging on with you waiting for their pension.