Innovation
SPOTLIGHT ON
INNOVATION
Create Three Distinct
Career Paths for Innovators
| by Gina Colarelli O’Connor, Andrew Corbett, and Ron Pierantozzi
BIG COMPANIES are much better at
incremental innovation than they are at
radical innovation. That’s as true now
as it was 20 years ago, despite count-
less programs aimed at strengthening
innovation capabilities. To understand
why, researchers at Rensselaer Polytech-
nic Institute studied 21 large companies’
efforts to build a capability for break-
through innovations over several years.
They found that even though companies
pay lip service to innovation, most fail to
provide the formal structure and support
that programs need to succeed, such as
an autonomous organization, processes
tailored for highly uncertain work, and
well-designed metrics.
What’s more, the research reveals that
companies fundamentally mismanage
their innovation talent. Typically, large
companies rotate high-potential manag-
ers in and out of the innovation leadership
role on a regular basis. That may give
the rising stars broad experience, but
it deprives the company of any real in-
novation expertise at a senior level. Even
more damaging, companies don’t provide
meaningful growth opportunities for their
innovation professionals. So although
there are plenty of great jobs in innova-
tion, there are no careers. One member
of an innovation hub in a large consumer
products company explains, “I could help
launch $4, $5, $6 billion businesses over
the next five years, and I won’t get pro-
moted into leadership for this company.”
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To remedy that problem, companies
must first understand that breakthrough
innovation consists of three phases:
Discovery: Creating or identifying
high-impact market opportunities.
Incubation: Experimenting with tech-
nology and business concepts to design
a viable model for a new business.
Acceleration: Developing a business
until it can stand on its own.
Consider the unique competencies
each phase requires. During discovery,
employees often do bench science or
technological experimentation as they
think about how an innovation might sat-
isfy a marketplace need. During incuba-
tion, employees experiment recursively
with technology and market opportuni-
ties and try to anticipate the impact the
breakthrough business may have on the
company’s strategy. During accelera-
tion, established-business capabilities
such as scaling up processes, imposing
discipline, and specialization are needed.
Each phase lends itself to distinct career
paths, as well. The bench scientist, for
instance, may eventually want to be
involved in policy discussions about
emerging technologies and how they
may influence the company’s future. The
incubator may want to pursue a techni-
cal path – managing larger, longer-term
projects – or to manage a portfolio of
emerging businesses. And the accelerat-
ing manager may want to stay with the
business as it grows, take on a leadership
| hbr.org
role in a functional specialty, or move
into other general-management roles in
the corporation.
Rather than develop those paths,
however, many firms assume that an
individual will be promoted along with
a project as it grows from discovery
through to acceleration. In reality, indi-
viduals with that breadth of skill sets are
extremely rare. In other words, compa-
nies have essentially been setting their
innovators up to fail. Imagine how much
a company might improve its innova-
tion if it allowed workers who excelled
in, say, the discovery phase to focus on
emerging innovation opportunities rather
than forcing them to acquire the skills
needed for incubation or acceleration.
The accompanying exhibit can serve as
a guide for executives who are ready to
build career paths for their company’s
innovators – and to reap the rewards of a
sustainable innovation function.
Gina Colarelli O’Connor (oconng@rpi.
edu), an associate professor of marketing
and innovation, leads the Radical Innova-
tion Research program at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Andrew Corbett (corbea@rpi.edu) is an
associate professor of entrepreneurship
and strategic management at RPI and a
researcher with the program. Ron Pieran-
tozzi (Ron@cameronusa.com) is a partner
at Cameron and Associates, an innovation
consulting firm in Philadelphia.
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11/2/09 1:41:26 PM
 Discovery
The mission: Create and identify opportunities
in the marketplace. Explore fit between techno-
logical capabilities and marketplace needs.

TYPICAL ACTIVITIES ENTRY-LEVEL SKILLS MIDLEVEL SKILLS SENIOR-LEVEL SKILLS

bench science, feasibil- ■scientific and technical
ity studies, opportunity acumen
generation ■ systems thinking
■ability to make links be-
tween science and market
possibilities
■ network development skills
■comfortable managing
ambiguity
■ ability to handle rejection
Entry-level skills, plus the
ability to
■make connections across
opportunities
■ broaden opportunities
through imaginative thinking
combined with deep knowl-
edge of emerging product
market domains
■coach teams to think
strategically
■ evaluate opportunities
Entry- and midlevel skills,
plus the ability to
■lead conversations about
strategic intent
■ collaborate with technical
leaders outside the company
■ manage budgets and
finances
■ manage a portfolio
■conduct policy-setting con-
versations with governmental
and other constituents

Incubation
The mission: Experiment in order to create
a new business that delivers breakthrough
value to customers and to the firm.

TYPICAL ACTIVITIES ENTRY-LEVEL SKILLS MIDLEVEL SKILLS SENIOR-LEVEL SKILLS

experiment, develop ■ability to create a new
technology toward a business
specific application, work ■comfortable managing
with potential customers, ambiguity
analyze the economics of
■ ability to assimilate new
the business
information and change
direction
■ resource identification
■ management of organiza-
tional expectations
Entry-level skills, plus Entry- and midlevel skills,
■experience managing plus the ability to
smaller projects ■assess the relative eco-
nomic, market, and strategic
■interpersonal coaching
promise of opportunities
skills
■manage cross-portfolio
synergies and dissonance
■ manage in the context of
the larger organization’s
economic and competitive
situation

Acceleration The mission: Nurture the business until

it can stand on its own.

TYPICAL ACTIVITIES ENTRY-LEVEL SKILLS MIDLEVEL SKILLS SENIOR-LEVEL SKILLS

invest in infrastructure, ■ traditional functional skills Entry-level skills, plus Entry- and midlevel skills,
develop repeatable busi- ■ability to be both agile ■ traditional leadership plus the ability to
ness processes, develop and disciplined skills for a specific function ■ act as general manager
managerial talent, manage (analytical, sales oversight, for a high-growth business
■ability to operate on a
relationship with main- decision making, strategic)
cross-functional team
stream organization

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