Franck DebaneDigital Evolution

Nobody agrees on what innovation actually means

By 1 min read Corporate Entrepreneur, InnovationLinkedIn

Part 1 of 12 in Hidden truths of corporate innovation

Cartoon of five executives at a table; the boss says Let's innovate while thought bubbles read workshops and new features

Ask your executive team, "What should be the role of innovation?" You'll get different answers from everyone.

Here's the reality:

  • To Marketing, it's trendwatching and maybe startup scouting
  • To HR, it's workshops, intrapreneurship or hackathons to foster employee engagement
  • To Product, it's new features or new products
  • To CEOs, it might mean new revenue streams to drive business growth
  • To the COO, this could mean optimized operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Without alignment, innovation quickly becomes confusion.

Here's a question:

“What does innovation mean to you? Is this definition shared with your stakeholders?”

If your team isn't aligned on what it is, innovation is just … a distraction.

First published on LinkedIn on May 26, 2025. View the original post

Franck Debane helps large companies build new ventures with Forward Partners: about a hundred programmes in more than 50 companies since 2012. He wrote Passez en mode startup (Eyrolles, 2021) and organises the Lead Innovation Day.