Here’s a common thread that I’ve picked up from conversations recently with CMOs and some research we’ve done into innovation. There’s an interesting connection between what some call “polycentric innovation”, what I’ll call innovation “crucibles”, and marketing talent development.
Starting with polycentric innovation, in a recent special report on innovation in emerging markets, The Economist described how companies like Cisco and IBM are building innovation centers in emerging markets. These aren’t just laboratory outposts—these are major innovation centers on par with those in developed markets. These emerging market innovation centers act as a sort of crucible—an intensely pressured, constrained environment that accelerates innovation, and potentially leads to discontinuous solutions that you simply wouldn’t get in other contexts.
This crucible effect came through loud and clear in this fascinating read on how Danone is using crucible markets like Senegal to develop radically different yogurt offerings. In this case, the kinds of constraints forced by wafer-thin consumer budgets and a very underdeveloped distribution infrastructure forces unconventional thinking, along with fast failure and correction cycles.
A similar kind of crucible effect surfaced recently in conversations with some top CMOs in the MLC membership. As the group discussed marketing talent development, there was this realization that some geographic markets can serve as “marketing discipline” crucibles. For example, the Chinese market is far in front in using social media to launch new products. One approach to marketing talent development we discussed was to rotate talent into these crucible marketplaces for 6-12 months to develop expertise very rapidly. Some of these CMOs came away from the conversation with the action item of formalizing a network of global talent development crucibles. They would prioritize markets that could act as crucibles for the key marketing disciplines that would separate winning marketers from laggards in the next 3-7 years (e.g., mobile marketing, social media).
For more discussion on crucibles in the context of innovation, join us at one of MLC’s upcoming breakfast meetings, hosted by world-class innovators of W.L. Gore (July 22), 3M (September 22) and Guardian Life (November 30). Register here.
(photo by Flickr user John LeGear)
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