Consumer Goods & Technology Magazine: 2015 Innovation Outlook

I’m thrilled that I’ve again been cover in CG&T Magazine’s annual outlook.  This marks 4 years in a row!
This year my comments are short and sweet – I continue to believe that accelerating change with retail models, products, technology, mobile and just about everything else makes it difficult for organizations to ensure that their capabilities are aligned to their strategies.
Here’s what I wroe for this years piece:

Going into 2015 and beyond, the biggest issue for CG executives will be to think about how they have big holes that they need to fix — and fast.
The challenge is that with this tsunami of change, many companies still aren’t capable of coping, and so many mismatches become painfully clear:

• Strategy mismatch: Are you still trying to solve the social media challenges from 2013, while in 2015 it has shifted to mobile?
• Skills mismatch: What’s your bench strength with all the new technologies flooding the space?
• Cultural mismatch: Are you equipped for speed? Everyone is talking about being agile and lean — but do you find that even with those strategies you are still falling behind?
• Worse yet, your technology mismatch is probably becoming bigger than ever. How are you going to fix these holes?

Here are some key secrets of success in an era of high-velocity change: an accelerated innovation cycle, fuelled by the rapid ingestion of new technologies/methodologies. Work on your internal pipelines to gain a faster time to market, and know how to rapidly re-focus resources for opportunity or threat. All that needs to be done in a time in which volatility is the new normal. A pretty tall order, but it will help you close the mismatches that likely exist.