O’Connor et al (2009) – Create 3 Distinct Career Paths for Innovators
Status quo:
Companies fail to provide the formal structure for successful radical innovation programs:
o Autonomous organization
o Processes tailored for highly uncertain work
o Well-designed metrics
Main problem identified: Mismanagement of innovation talent
Companies mismanage their innovation talent!
Companies rotate high-potential managers in & out of the innovation leadership role on a
regular basis
o This helps the managers gain experience BUT
o This means that it is impossible to build up some innovation expertise at senior level
Companies do not provide growth opportunities for innovation professionals
o From innovation, you never get promoted into a leadership role
o “there are plenty of jobs in innovation but there are no careers”
o Most firms just assume that employees will be promoted along the project as it
graduates from incubation to acceleration – but is that employee suitable for that?
Staffing the 3 phases of innovation
Innovation has 3 phases (discovery, incubation, acceleration)
Each of these requires different skills
Also an individual working in discovery might have other career aspirations than an individual
working in incubation/acceleration
o E.g. a discoverer might aspire to become involved in policy discussions about
emerging technologies and their impact on corporate strategy
o An incubator might aspire to pursue a technical path, managing large-scale projects
o The accelerator might aspire to take on a functional leadership role
It makes no sense to ask an individual to engage in all 3 phases
o such broadly skilled individuals are very rare
o working on all 3 phases even though they only have career aspirations for one phase
could demotivate them
Rather, each employee should focus on the phase they are best at!
Main proposition:
Organizations should create three distinct career paths within innovation:
1) The Discoverer
2) The Incubator
3) The Accelerator
For each career path, suitable growth options must be considered and included!
Status quo:
Companies fail to provide the formal structure for successful radical innovation programs:
o Autonomous organization
o Processes tailored for highly uncertain work
o Well-designed metrics
Main problem identified: Mismanagement of innovation talent
Companies mismanage their innovation talent!
Companies rotate high-potential managers in & out of the innovation leadership role on a
regular basis
o This helps the managers gain experience BUT
o This means that it is impossible to build up some innovation expertise at senior level
Companies do not provide growth opportunities for innovation professionals
o From innovation, you never get promoted into a leadership role
o “there are plenty of jobs in innovation but there are no careers”
o Most firms just assume that employees will be promoted along the project as it
graduates from incubation to acceleration – but is that employee suitable for that?
Staffing the 3 phases of innovation
Innovation has 3 phases (discovery, incubation, acceleration)
Each of these requires different skills
Also an individual working in discovery might have other career aspirations than an individual
working in incubation/acceleration
o E.g. a discoverer might aspire to become involved in policy discussions about
emerging technologies and their impact on corporate strategy
o An incubator might aspire to pursue a technical path, managing large-scale projects
o The accelerator might aspire to take on a functional leadership role
It makes no sense to ask an individual to engage in all 3 phases
o such broadly skilled individuals are very rare
o working on all 3 phases even though they only have career aspirations for one phase
could demotivate them
Rather, each employee should focus on the phase they are best at!
Main proposition:
Organizations should create three distinct career paths within innovation:
1) The Discoverer
2) The Incubator
3) The Accelerator
For each career path, suitable growth options must be considered and included!
