Work for Stakeholders

What we’re saying is: Collecting ideas without a stakeholder is worse than doing nothing. It kills the trust in an innovation process where any ideas move forward.

It’s like going to a park and putting up a suggestion box for ideas on fixing the climate crisis. People might submit ideas but who’s going to act on them?

If you’re managing innovation, your job isn’t to collect ideas. It’s to help others solve their problems or open a window into a different future. You’re not the star of the show. You’re the support crew making sure the right people can ask good questions, get useful answers, and implement more valuable ideas.

So, find the teams with clear pain points and real ownership. Help them launch focused idea collections tied to what they care about.

Suppose marketing wants to find ways to launch in a new market. That’s your signal. Empower them to set up a challenge around radical market entry ideas, help them craft a one-sentence brief, and run the process. When ideas come in, help them evaluate, pick one, and follow through.

Each time you help a stakeholder succeed, you build trust in the process and momentum for the next one.