Radical innovation projects, due to their fuzzy front end and high levels of uncertainties, cannot be described by an orderly process and have to use the fuzzy logic. The reality of managing a radical-innovation project is also strikingly different for radical versus incremental innovation.
The process of innovation, ideally, is jazz − improvisation within a guiding structure, in reality, it is a football game.
In innovation, doing things right is often wrong. If success of your team depends on everything going right, that's not leadership, that's control. The ability to succeed in conditions of high uncertainty is the pinnacle of leadership.
According to HBS, general characteristics of the radical innovation life cycle are:
▪ long-term, highly uncertain and unpredictable;
▪ sporadic – starts and stops, dead ends and revivals;
▪ nonlinear – detours, recycling back through activities in response to discontinuities and setbacks;
▪ stochastic – waxing and waning of interest and funding, key players come and go, priorities change;
▪ context dependent corporate culture, history, personalities, informal relations, and experience all create a mix of accelerating and retarding factors.
