{"id":1368,"date":"2013-01-08T10:03:35","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T17:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2013-01-08T10:03:35","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T17:03:35","slug":"stephen-brand-innovation-is-not-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/2013\/01\/stephen-brand-innovation-is-not-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Brand:  &#8220;Innovation&#8221; is not &#8220;Risk&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/enterprisefactory.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1369 alignleft\" title=\"Stephen Brand\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Stephen-Brand.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"186\" height=\"176\" \/><\/a>In this interview, I\u2019m delighted to introduce you to <strong>Dr. Stephen Brand, President &amp; Chief Imagination Officer of the <a href=\"http:\/\/enterprisefactory.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Enterprise Factory<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0His firm designs, launches and scales revenue-generating, mission-driven ventures. In his words, he <em>\u201cfinds the profit in non-profits.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do you define the word \u201cinnovation\u201d for a non-profit organization? Is it synonymous with \u201crisk?\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s entrepreneurship that is synonymous with risk, not innovation. When we speak of innovation, we are talking about the introduction of relevant new approaches, products\/services or ways of doing business for an existing (or new) market\/audience. A focus on innovation (I like to use the word \u201cnewness\u201d) is critical to the health, viability and effectiveness of all sectors \u2013 non-profit, for profit and government.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how I see the structure of innovation:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Creativity results in ideas.<\/li>\n<li>Innovation results in new ideas that are relevant and respond to a need or desire.<\/li>\n<li>Entrepreneurship is the implementation of ideas that push the envelope and drive new revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0<strong>What is the relation between \u201cinnovation\u201d and \u201cmission\u201d in a non-profit organization? Is an organization\u2019s mission always sacred and if so, is it a constraint on an organization\u2019s ability to innovate?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Frequently, non-profit boards and team members lose themselves in the nostalgia of their organization\u2019s mission (i.e. what they recall their founder originally envisioned or what was codified in writing decades ago) that they lose sight of the need to continually be relevant and compelling to those they serve.<\/p>\n<p>Innovation doesn\u2019t conflict at all with mission. That innovation is necessarily grounded in a core (and simple) mission is critical to keep the non-profit vibrant and sustainable.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u201cBe more entrepreneurial\u201d is frequent advice given to arts &amp; cultural organization leaders. What should that directive mean to an organization beyond the obvious instruction to cultivate more revenue sources?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Well, I\u2019m sad to say that the meaning behind \u201cbe more entrepreneurial\u201d has become \u201cget more things done\u201d \u2013 even in the face of increasingly scarce resources.<\/p>\n<p>What \u201cbe more entrepreneurial\u201d SHOULD convey is an expectation that someone or an organization is authorized to take risks to excel and stand out from the crowd. I do believe that non-profits should be more entrepreneurial \u2013 but that task often requires a wholesale adjustment of organizational culture, delegation, skills and oversight.<\/p>\n<p>To really \u201cbe more entrepreneurial\u201d involves a far more complex responsibility than, say, \u201cbalance the budget\u201d or \u201cfocus on accessibility\u201d.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Non-profit organizations (and the people who run them) are generally expert at conserving resources while endeavoring to maximize mission. How does your approach to innovation change that paradigm?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>First, accept that you can\u2019t cut your way to long-term success.<\/p>\n<p>Second, remember that managing expenses and eliminating \u201cwaste\u201d is a baseline expectation of what it means to be a trustworthy steward of donor gifts and government grants.<\/p>\n<p>Third, it is the investment in innovation \u2013 and a commitment to accepting some appropriate degree of risk \u2013 that determines whether your organization will still be alive and\/or relevant in 5-10 years.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that there are increasing numbers of entrepreneurial donors willing to fund efforts that pursue bold new strategies, even while they understand the risks involved.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Speaking candidly, what do you see as the major obstacles to innovation in non-profit organizations? What are our chief causes of failure?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The list of obstacles is long \u2013 but it\u2019s instructive, so I\u2019m happy to share it:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Inept Control<\/strong> \u2013 You will fail at innovation because you ask everyone to be innovative, but then cut them down immediately when you don\u2019t like or understand the ideas being generated.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Inadequate Culture<\/strong> \u2013 You will fail at innovation because you never purposefully designed a corporate process (or culture) that encouraged, welcomed, protected and respected new perspectives and ideas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Devil\u2019s Advocate<\/strong> \u2013 You will fail at innovation because you mistakenly thought that your role was to point out the flaws in the ideas. The devil has enough advocates, he doesn\u2019t need you. Your team needs to be encouraged to think big and bold and given the opportunity to make things happen, even when it\u2019s far outside of YOUR box.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Not Celebrating Failure<\/strong> \u2013 You will fail at innovation because you aren\u2019t willing to learn from your mistakes like Thomas Edison, who invented 500 light-bulbs that failed before he found one that succeeded.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Square Peg\/Round Hold<\/strong> \u2013 You will fail at innovation because you stopped listening to the people who didn\u2019t give you the right reports at the right time in the right format. You failed to recognize that innovators work on a different plane than operators.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Blindness<\/strong> \u2013 You will fail at innovation because you see only title, age, resume and corporate hierarchy rather than the opportunity to give license to people with passion, drive, fire in their belly and the vision for seeing things through.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What resources (books, magazines, blogs, podcasts) do you recommend most highly for people working in non-profits who want\/need to get into a more \u201cinnovative\u201d mindset?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fast Company<\/a><\/strong> magazine.<\/li>\n<li>Anything that <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sethgodin.com\/sg\/\" target=\"_blank\">Seth Godin<\/a><\/strong> writes.<\/li>\n<li>Try a different magazine every month from a field that is not yours with the task of learning something new that you can steal for your industry.<\/li>\n<li>Go to a new conference every year that you never attended and push yourself to come up with enough ideas that generate twice what it cost you to attend.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Art-Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Hardened-Starting\/dp\/1591840562\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1357527565&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=art+of+the+start\" target=\"_blank\">Art of the Start<\/a><\/strong> by Guy Kawasaki \u2013 the first Apple evangelist.<\/li>\n<li>Read about people, companies and organizations you admire that you perceive as innovative. There is always something to learn from people and companies like: Steven Jobs, Southwest Airlines, Disney, Zappos, Amazon, Google, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Go on to<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ted.com\" target=\"_blank\">TED.com<\/a><\/strong> and listen to a different 18 minute talk every week.<\/li>\n<li>Be a curious observer of everything you come across, hear about, see, visit, etc. New ideas that drive innovation can certainly come from within your field \u2013 but the most exciting ideas will be sparked from fields far out of your range.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, listen to your front line employees. They know much more about your \u201ccustomer\u201d, client,\u00a0clientele,\u00a0 members, etc. than management that lives in offices and on their computers too much.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p># # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this interview, I\u2019m delighted to introduce you to Dr. Stephen Brand, President &amp; Chief Imagination Officer of the New Enterprise Factory. \u00a0His firm designs, launches and scales revenue-generating, mission-driven ventures. In his words, he \u201cfinds the profit in non-profits.\u201d How do you define the word \u201cinnovation\u201d for a non-profit organization? Is it synonymous with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,26,23,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-best-practices","7":"category-innovation","8":"category-mission","9":"category-strategy","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}