1/ Tweetstorm a comin' cuz @IvyBGrey really likes it when I "have a conversation with an article." First of all, super 💯 helpful and useful breakdown of varying #innovation approaches, so everyone trying to do all the innovation things, please read the article, like now thanks.

https://twitter.com/IvyBGrey/status/1049736327028203520

2/ Is "incremental" a dirty word? No. But to most people it #feels less exciting & flashy than "#disruptive." Yes, I said #feels. Bc most ppl probably will not read Ivy's excellent article or this tweetstorm bc they're not on Twitter. To them all this sounds/#feels like jargon.

2 / Exhibit A / From @DCaseyF who is now 5.7% as famous as @RealCarrotTop, who is in turn is now only 0.8% as Twitter famous as @EmrgencyKittens: geeklawblog.com/2016/09/im-wor…

2 / Exhibit B / From me (although i'm still only 24.8% as famous as @DCaseyF) on why Big Law partners seem so #clueless: legalevolution.org/2018/06/big-la…

3/ Why does any of this matter? Bc the constituents/stakeholders whose buy-in + cooperation we often need to make changes (of any kind) actually stick do not act upon a rational analysis of the visible options. Bc they don't read technical definitions. This is a problem (obvs).

4/ Instead they are making intuitive decisions based on #feels. Press feels good. Brand lift feels good. Hard work feels less good and takes longer. #hype is faster, easier and so more prevalent than #value. Is this an excuse? No. It is an explanation based on #empathy.

5/ Companies (specifically legal businesses) run into trouble when NOBODY reads technical definitions. These are prime conditions for trying to do one thing but call it another. They inevitably misapply theory, frameworks +tools. The technical term for this is "doin it wrong."

6/ Naturally, these teams fail to drive sustainable gains. This is not the type of much-lauded Silicon Valley kind of iterative failure from which we naturally learn. It looks & feels more like lurching from one 🙃hallucination to the next. We need more #realtalk about this.

7/ The root causes here are skill gaps & organizational immaturity w innovation. Starting out this way is 💯 fine. Staying that way is totally not. Ignoring this to protect people's feelings is a costly mistake 💸 for the investing org and a systemic drag on the pace of progress.

8/ Agree with @smuckwell and @ZachAbramowitz "giving away the playbook" is a huge step for the vertical. We need to share knowledge and know-how. BUT we still need embedded teams to get better at recognizing organizational #context and #opportunity.

https://twitter.com/ZachAbramowitz/status/1048953995870523392

9/ One critical and aggregate danger of "incremental" approaches is the need to take a #holistic view of the organization's innovation agenda. The allure of "low-hanging" fruit is ever-present but it carries its own #risks.

10/ Often orgs take on "initiative creep" with incremental efforts + fail to calculate the aggregate costs of change #fatigue. If efforts aren't aligned w each other + with existing position, assets, talent + opportunity, they will face significant #friction & ultimately fail.

11/ In closing, #strategy first and #innovation second (whatever type you may pursue). 🖖Live long and prosper and also may the Force be with you. Thank you for coming to my #tedtalk.