Ever attended a Sprint or Stratex deep dive that looks great on the surface – lots of high fives & smiling faces – but leaves you with a nagging feeling that ‘nothing will come of this’?
Welcome to
‘Innovation Theatre’. Whether you’re trying to protect the core with OpEx/Lean,
or ignite new growth with Digital, this pernicious syndrome is a clear &
present danger, which not only fails to create value – it destroys
value.
Innovation Theatre is
closely related to what the great Czech novelist, Milan Kundera, called ‘kitsch’.
Gaudy, tasteless, or overly sentimental, kitsch embraces cliché and superficial
emotions. Kitsch can be seen as a form of escapism, providing comfort through
familiarity while lacking depth and authenticity. In dysfunctional organizations, kitsch manifests
as the feeling “isn’t it great that we’re so innovative/supportive/engaged/aligned…”
(fill in the blanks). As in Kundera’s 1960’s
Czechoslovakia, everybody knows the system is phony, but nobody dares say
anything.
How do we recognize Innovation Theatre? What causes it & what are the remedies? What’s the role of the Board and Senior Leader Team in recognizing and banishing kitsch? What are the blockers to doing so?
I’ll be addressing these and other questions in
the weeks to come.
Best wishes,
Pascal Dennis E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org
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