Necessity is the mother of invention

Great challenges create the constraints that force us to work differently. When the pandemic struck it constrained how we could work. It pushed people online. It made organisations rethink their processes. It inspired teams who had done the same thing for decades to completely reinvent their businesses, transform digitally – and many never looked back.

We’re hearing from customers in many industries that they expect 2023 will bring more component scarcity, higher energy costs, greater supply chain challenges, more inflation and higher on-shelf price, leading to less consumer demand as consumers battle with their own emptying pockets. And with all this they fear comes budget cuts for corporate innovation.

But as a digital innovator – it’s not all doom and gloom. When the going gets tough – that’s when we need innovation most. No amount of efficiency can allow us to grow out of changing consumer needs or component scarcity. So, the question is not “should we innovate despite these challenges”. Instead, it is how can we innovate to grow because of these challenges. In 2023, proactive innovation will enable much more effective ways to deliver on the jobs our customers are trying to do – perhaps enabled by new talent, technologies, or business models, not simply a cheaper version of what they used last year. In 2023, proactive innovation will enable finding new sources of value previously left untapped. In 2023, proactive innovation can diversify your offering and bring resilience.

But how to do this with tighter budgets and more risk adverse colleagues?

· Go to where they are: focus on solutions to the problems your boss’ boss faces today, don’t just plan for 2023. What could you do that would be aligned with their strategy – and would make a big difference?

· Go outside: the answers to the problems you face already exist. As an innovator, your job is not to re-create the wheel, it is to find those solutions and apply them to the problems and opportunities your organisation faces.

· Start now: we can’t grow through the challenges we’re facing in 2023 through theories. And we can’t choose the winning idea, technology, or business now. We therefore need to invest a little in a bunch of different ‘seeds’ now, learn a lot as they develop and give them time to grow so at least a few of them can feed us in the future. As the saying goes, “the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit”.

· Be disciplined: focus on your priorities, linking business objectives with customer needs.

In the same way that the challenges of the pandemic inspired great innovation and new sources of growth. If you approach the challenges of 2023 in the right way – it can also be a source growth for your brand for years to come.