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One of the hardest truths about innovation is that today’s solution may create future problems. That is to say, no solitary win offers the promise of continued achievement.
Whether companies have enjoyed smashing success or are grasping for initial traction, they face many of the same obstacles to forward motion. The deeper they become entrenched in today’s practices and products, the less likely they are to make fresh gains.
As the leader of a company composed of iconic brands like TiVo, which introduced the DVR, and DTS, which roared to success delivering Jurassic Park’s spine-chilling dinosaur sounds to movie theaters, I’ve witnessed the thrill of developing game-changing advancements in entertainment tech, as well as the pressure to steer those businesses into the future. Here’s what I’ve learned about navigating barriers to sustaining innovation.
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Objectivity is a superpower
Focusing on previous success can cause us to cling too tightly to what once worked rather than keep an eye on the future.
There’s no shortage of examples of this in business. Take Kodak, which had the means to corner the digital imaging market but insisted on modeling its digital business after its film business. So when digital photography, and eventually mobile phones, transformed the market entirely, Kodak filed for bankruptcy — a failure of leadership stuck in the past.
Progress requires quashing that tight grip on our accomplishments and instead striving for objectivity. This means constantly evaluating opportunities on the horizon while also monitoring incoming threats. One of the most important assets leadership can bring to the table? Clear-eyed analysis, which can help signal when it’s time to pivot.
But it’s not always easy to do. My company has reached this crossroads time and again. For example, we saw tremendous growth when our revolutionary theatrical audio system debuted with Jurassic Park. But that technology was film-based. Within a few years of the movie’s release, it became clear that the future was digital. So we sold half the business — the same technology that had catapulted us to prominence. It was an emotionally grueling decision. It was also the right one, allowing us to reposition for the digital world.
It’s important to note, however, that this kind of radical objectivity can only happen within a company culture that welcomes constructive criticism and transparency — one where leaders, managers and teams challenge one another to overcome success bias.
Company culture should center on adding value
Another hindrance to innovation? Failing to bring your people along for the ride.
In a global survey, 75% of respondents reported that they weren’t granted input in developing a shared vision for their work. A similar proportion said their work didn’t give them purpose.
A culture lacking in purpose — the “why” — is a recipe for stagnation. Cultivating progress requires a clear expectation that employees will engage and seek to add continued value. Simultaneously, it requires a company to motivate employees to grow their skills and contributions — promoting outside-the-box thinking, fostering personal and professional development and providing opportunities for career advancement.
However, employees need more than purpose; they need to trust that their input is valued.
I’ve found that our team tends to be more accepting of forward motion when they’re given some context and agency over how it will occur. We begin enacting change with a clear plan about the who, what, and when, and also thinking through the effects on all constituents. Sometimes, we start with a pilot or survey to gather important change-related information. This effort readies the waters by allowing for employee feedback and the buy-in required for larger shifts ahead.
I saw this firsthand with a major merger we did in 2020. We developed a clear strategy to combine and then separate the two parts of our business on a specified timeline. We explained it up front with plenty of context, found our change champions, and then spent the next two years executing and adapting to successfully realize our strategic plan.
Interestingly, a transformational opportunity like a merger offers impactful ways to evolve and innovate culture, too. I encourage leaders to integrate as early as possible to not only ensure the success of the transaction but to also challenge and reset cultural norms. Reinforcing the best cultural aspects from both companies ensures a refresh.
Data is essential — but It doesn’t get the last word
Data equals power. Except when it doesn’t.
JCPenney made this costly mistake. The company used data suggesting that customers wanted lower prices to justify moving away from promotional pricing to everyday low pricing. The effort failed; they didn’t account for their customers being motivated not just by low prices but by promotions themselves.
I highly value data. And sometimes, it can explain a discrete issue. However, when tackling a nuanced problem, interpretation and contextualization are as important as the numbers themselves.
For us, that looks like constantly weighing new data against the longer arcs of technology, like the concept that processing power increases over time and costs decrease. We also figure in our decades of wins and missteps.
Sometimes, this bundle of information points us to critical insights. Years ago, when consumers began to use headphones, the technology didn’t yet exist to package high-quality spatial sound into them. At that time, data showed that people wanted convenience over quality, so the industry made headphones to meet that demand.
We interpreted the data differently, anticipating that, eventually, our research combined with those technological arcs would allow us to deliver a high-quality headphone experience, and that consumers would demand quality again. Fast forward to today: our headphones are now the preeminent technology used for advanced gaming.
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Partnerships can unlock unseen potential
Laser focus on internal innovation can impede another important avenue of progress: collaboration.
Most innovation doesn’t arise from scratch but from tweaking an existing product to create a surprising new feature. For us, progress often means building partnerships in adjacent industries. The key? Both parties must benefit from tapping into each other’s markets and technologies to deliver something all their customers love.
These powerful relationships have resulted in countless innovations. For example, a partnership with BMW has transferred our immersive entertainment technology from the living room into vehicles. This collaboration opened a new vertical for us while allowing BMW to meet the demands of drivers increasingly using their cars as a third space for relaxation.
Sustaining innovation is never a small feat. It takes tremendous and continuous effort to pivot a large, established organization with many moving parts. On the flip side, younger companies may lack the capital and sophisticated data required to shift gears or have founders who are too shackled to early visions or wins. Regardless, embracing objectivity, fostering a culture of continuously adding value and looking to contextualized data and external stakeholders for hints can position a business to avoid the one-hit-wonder trap and, instead, enjoy the exhilaration of many more innovations to come.
Mark Stevens looking through a 360-degree display. Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
