BREAKING BOUNDARIES

INSPIRING INNOVATION

Staying one step ahead is tougher and more important than ever.

By Lynne Doughtie, U.S. Chairman and CEO, KPMG LLP Article | Oct. 2017

With extraordinary disruption now ordinary—and with boundaries blurred and market transformation never-ending—agility has become essential to fostering growth and fending off both traditional and nontraditional competitors. But in order to thrive in today’s environment, agility must be paired with innovation.

Cultivating innovative thinking starts at the top. Leaders can foster a culture of innovation by encouraging creativity and experimenting with new ideas. Actions always speak loudest, which is why at KPMG, we developed a series of competitions that challenge our 30,000+ employees to conceive, refine, and present ideas to help move our organization forward. Employees are asked to ideate around a specific challenge to enhance or develop a KPMG solution. The result? Unique ideas have been pouring in across our firm, validating that innovation is everyone’s responsibility—and everyone’s opportunity. Inspiration calls for defined ways in which to recognize and reward employees for their contributions. The winner of our competition—an individual or team—receives investment funding to further develop their idea.

Innovation demands risk-taking—which in turn entails redefining failure…

—Lynne Doughtie, U.S. Chairman and CEO, KPMG LLP

Another example: We’ve been opening up ignition centers in cities around the world. We’re creating an environment where innovative workspaces allow clients to uncover disruptive business trends, harness data and analytics insights, and build technology-based solutions. Along with those capabilities, clients can collaborate with KPMG’s diverse teams of consultants, researchers, data scientists, designers, and developers to pressure-test new ideas, experiment with the latest technologies, and hash out new ways to produce tangible results that power change.

Innovation demands risk-taking—which in turn entails redefining failure, stripping away its power to inhibit. Consider what Thomas Edison said after repeated “failures” to invent the light bulb: “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” Everyone must buy into the fact that, properly and promptly applied to the next iteration, missteps aren’t failures but rather the building blocks of innovation.

“Failing fast” is an important component of cultivating the agility needed for a development project along with continually rebalancing your innovation portfolio. Since there is always a risk that an innovation will fail, you must be able to pivot quickly when an idea doesn’t perform as planned.

Challenging the status quo with grace, grit and composure

Creating a business case to support a small effort before launching full-scale is one way to keep nimble. Another is partnering with a complementary third party to implement new products and services, as KPMG has done with IBM Watson, Microsoft, and other alliance partners to help clients and our own firm digitally transform. In the end, companies need to innovate with every tool at their disposal when it comes to staying ahead in this ever-changing, ultra competitive environment.

Lynne Doughtie is U.S. Chairman and CEO of KPMG LLP and is also a member of KPMG’s Global Board and Executive Committee.