1. What is innovation leadership?

Implementing something different that adds value or yields a measurable benefit is what

innovation entails. It necessitates a wide range of abilities, typically those of a group. Actively pursuing

innovation requires considerable resources and deliberate focus. It requires innovation leadership,

support from the organizational hierarchy, and a culture that values and nurtures creativity. Innovation

leadership is a process for creating direction, alignment, and commitment needed to create and

implement something new that adds value.

Innovative leadership doesn’t rely on past experience or known facts. It imagines a desired

future state and how to get there. It is intuitive and open to possibility. Rather than identifying right

answers or wrong answers, the goal is to find a better way and to explore multiple possibilities.

Ambiguity is an advantage, not a problem. It allows us to ask “what if?” Innovative thinking is a crucial

addition to traditional business thinking. It allows you to bring new ideas and energy to your role as

leader and paves the way to bring more innovation into your organization.

Managers are unable to compel creativity. They must, however, take the lead and “walk the

walk.” So often, we see leaders declare, “We need innovation!” and then go on to stifle new ideas. They

also do so unwittingly due to a lack of understanding of how even minor actions can stifle or inspire

others' creativity. Integrity in supporting what leaders think the company wants to do necessitates the

extra effort of thoroughly comprehending, considering, and evaluating new ideas as well as providing

learning-oriented input. Innovative leaders must provide guidance, but by failing to engage the intrinsic

motivation, energy, and enthusiasm of those being led, the leader creates impediments to commitment.

Leaders can help with alignment by taking an active role in developing processes that allow for

successful coordination of innovation work. There is no motivation for those in the company to share in

the direction or do what they are expected to do if the leader only declares a direction (which may or

may not be shared), and there are no mechanisms in place to promote the trajectory of developments.
Although top-down innovation modeling is beneficial and important, it is just the beginning. Innovation

can't happen without the help of top management. Innovative leaders should devise a better strategy.

Rather than a “push” mentality, leveraging top management’s initiatives and working in small groups to

develop the tools, skills, and mindset is necessary to drive innovation. Then create a hunger and a “pull”

in the organization for more innovation development.

Individual innovative leaders will arise even in organizations that lack the leadership and culture

necessary for innovation to thrive. Despite a lack of support structures and a hostile society, they

embrace innovative ideas and turn them into new methods, goods, or services. Innovation leadership

needs the following essential building blocks: Toolset, Skillset, and Mindset. Toolset is collection of tools

and strategies for generating new ideas, implementing them in the organization, communicating

direction, achieving alignment, and gaining loyalty to a cause. Skillset is a framework for innovation

leaders to use their experience and skills to achieve their objectives. It necessitates more than just

resources and techniques; it necessitates method mastery, practice, and facility. Mindset is the attitudes

and behaviors that enable the tools and skills to function properly. The attitude is the creative thinker's

basic operating system, and it separates those leaders who encourage creative thinking and creativity

from those who discourage it.

2. Will there rise and fall of innovation leadership? Qualify.

Nokia’s previous mobile phone business is one example where internal factors contributed to

failed innovation. Many have written about what went wrong within the company and management is

often blamed for poor decision making. Another example is Commodore International, the company

that started as a computer repair store and ended as a manufacturer that sold the best-selling computer

of all time, the Commodore 64. Despite the commodore 64 having brought many innovations, success

after that computer never followed. It has been reported that the teams lost their culture of innovation

among other things which lead to Commodore International's downfall.

Many of today's leadership issues are important in nature. Very pressing, and they necessitate

prompt and decisive action take action They are, nevertheless, extremely complicated. We can't just

jump right in. We need to take a step back, evaluate, and address the subject in a novel way using

creative thinking. Traditional business thinking, with its extensive research, calculations, and logical

facts, is commonly practiced by today's managers. Business thinkers are prone to making snap

judgements, sifting out the correct response from a slew of incorrect responses. Deductive and inductive

reasoning are popular techniques for making judgments because they look for proof or precedent.

The innovation concept has been introduced to capture the complexities, contingencies, and

uncertainties of new product and process development processes. Innovation processes are seen as

expeditions into unexplored areas, which are highly ambiguous, often uncontrollable and unique. People

do not proceed in these expeditions in a predictable, stage-wise manner, nor do they proceed randomly.

It is a process of trial-and-error, learning-by-doing and open-ended experimentation. While

management is often the driving force behind an innovation project, especially when there is a pressing

need for new advancements, there are numerous things that may go wrong when management is

involved in change.
 Managers are still consulted when seeking support and approval, depending on the corporate

culture. To start, management put into the transition initiative. Despite the fact that many of us were

eager to advance the change, there appeared to be no genuine effort on the part of management. For

initiatives to succeed and for a greater number of innovations to occur, leadership is required.

Motivation will rise if your superior shows interest in what you do and encourages you to make changes.

Involvement can be as simple as a small follow up on each started project.

More innovative companies have a clear structure for innovation. Everyone should be aware of

the process’ status and the requirements an advance has to fulfil in order to be developed further.

Without a plan for change actions, it's unclear which mediums should be used to communicate new

developments to the rest of the organization. Encouraging knowledge sharing between colleagues and

changing the attitudes about change of employees has been recognized to be a difficult task. There will

be resistance to change in any organization. It was easier to continue with the old when there were no

pushes for new. And, if there were no innovative leaders or “coaches” to encourage development,

innovation will not occur.

Before an attempt is made to adopt the innovation in the organization, a lot might go wrong.

The culture of a company has a significant impact on its ability to innovate. It's difficult to integrate

abrupt changes in how things are done into daily activity. Methods and practices must evolve into

something new and revolutionary, and this requires a transition process. A transition process in which

innovations will be presented, potentially changing the entire area. Challenges within organizational

structures is also one aspect to look into. There are many different ways to think, which leads to a large

variety of different organizational systems. A framework that works well for one organization may be

disastrous for another.

1. The wonders and woes of innovation.

New goods and services aren't the only things that can be innovated. Business models, networks

and partnerships, structures, product systems, sales channels, brand growth, and the consumer

experience are all part of a well-rounded innovation effort. Shifting the attention to this wider view of

creativity allows everybody in the company to see how they can help. Finance, distribution, operations,

storage, and other areas all play a key role. Rather than waiting for the "Next Big Thing" to be passed

down from on high, each becomes the driving force behind business innovation.

Companies may benefit improved productivity and reduced costs with innovation. The aim of a

lot of process innovation is to lower unit costs. This could be accomplished by increasing the company's

manufacturing potential and/or flexibility, allowing it to take advantage of economies of scale.

Companies may also benefit with better quality and product image. Customer needs are more likely to

be met by higher-quality goods and services. Assuming they are well-marketed, this could lead to

increased revenue and earnings. Innovation would almost definitely favor a company with a single

product or a small product range. A wider product selection allows for higher revenue and earnings

while also lowering risk for shareholders.

A strategy of investing in innovation can bring significant rewards, but it is not without risk.

Amongst the potential pitfalls are competition, uncertain returns, and availability of funds. Innovation

only confers a competitive advantage if competitors are not able to replicate it in their own businesses.

Whilst patents provide some legal protection, the reality is that many innovative products and processes

are hard to protect. One risk is that one research-driven, creative business makes the initial investment
and bears all of the risk, only to find itself competing with a slew of imitators riding on the innovation's

idea or concept.

Most of research and development is speculative, and future sales and income cannot be

guaranteed. The longer the production timeframe, the more likely it is that rivals will catch up to your

research. Research and Development, like all business operations, must contend for limited funds. R&D

necessitates a high required rate of return due to the risks involved. That means that the opportunity

cost of investing in R&D can be very high for companies with limited cash resources.

More than perseverance is required for continuous innovation. It necessitates combining

personal interest with curiosity, time, and the absence of a predetermined goal. Your duty as an

innovation leader is to provide the atmosphere, incentives, and channels of distribution necessary for

your workers' ideas to be heard, supported, and marketed.

2. How the pandemic situation changed the perspective and marketing scape locally and globally?

Since the start of the COVID-19, consumers have shown stockpiling behaviors that significantly

deviate from their normal way of purchasing. A further result of the lower accessibility of store

premises, combined with consumers' greater well-being concerns, has been a quick increment in

request for alternative distribution channels. Unexpected directions forcing social distancing are further

having an endless effect on consumers’ favored channel for shopping. For case, whereas online basic

need shopping has seen steady growth in spite of the fact that limited development within the final

decade, it has essentially expanded amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The current state of today’s business

environment has changed the way many of us used to live a year ago. It has influenced the type of

society that our generation lives in, as well as accessibility, protection, security, and purchasing power.

With our new normal set up, there have been many changes in the world of business, which have

resulted in changes in businesses are conducted and changes in consumer behavior are greatly affected.

COVID-19 has caused changes in consumer behavior patterns but there has also been a shift in

what factors influence the decision-making process. Two of the general influences are price and quality

which have an effect on one’s consumer behavior. The outbreak has prompted customers to search out

goods that are risk-free and of the highest quality, especially when it comes to food and cleaning

supplies. Consequently, customers are willing to spend even more for quality assurance and validated

safety requirements. At this point, despite the price being one of the most influential factors, it just

comes second right now. In times of crisis, shoppers decreased their consumption and wastefulness by
being more cautious in their decision-making process and finding more knowledge about products

before considering purchasing them.

Everyone had to adjust and adapt to the new normal since the spread of coronavirus.

Consumers, specifically teenagers, have been forced to self-isolate due to lockdown and are

experiencing strict health protocols that increased their online activities. COVID-19 brought a drastic

change in people's daily habits. There has been an increase in the number of First Time E-Commerce

users in India, who had previously been inhibited from shopping online. Also, some applications like

Bigbasket, Grofers, and Amazon have observed a growth in terms of usage. Due to the pandemic and

stringent regulations, people turned to online shopping, which helped lessen the expansion of the

infection. Changes illustrate that consumer behavior in the post-COVID era is different and that it is

influenced by psychological factors such as fear caused by COVID-19. Economic factors also affect

consumption patterns that lead to change in consumer buying behavior.

Everyone had to adjust and adapt to the new normal since the spread of coronavirus.

Consumers have been forced to self-isolate due to lockdown and are experiencing strict health protocols

that increased their online activities. COVID-19 brought a drastic change in people's daily habits. There

has been an increase in the number of first-time E-Commerce users in for both buyers and sellers. Due

to the pandemic and stringent regulations, people turned to online shopping, which helped lessen the

expansion of the infection. Changes illustrate that consumer behavior in the post-COVID era is different

and that it is influenced by psychological factors such as fear caused by COVID-19. Economic factors also

affect consumption patterns that lead to change in consumer buying behavior.

Activity #1

1. Discuss the most appreciated topic/s in the COMEPP NCR Conference.

Activity #2

2. Create your own version of corporate values using “I-N-N-O-V-A-T-I-O-N” (theory-based) that

maybe aligned to your organization.

Ingenuity It is the power of creativeness. It is how an organization gracefully solves problems.

When faced with dilemmas, hotels and resorts should provide a solution that doesn't

affect the quality of their service.

Neat It is crucial to maintain cleanliness at all times, especially in hotels and resorts. Neatness

is an influential factor for the guests' feedbacks.

Nurture It is to provide a comforting place to stay for guests. It is a vital part of the guests'

overall experience in a hotel or resort. It is also to provide comfort for employees.

Order It is to provide a systematic and direct system for both employees and guests. It is to

maintain order at all times to prevent misunderstandings and disorder.

Value The organization should put purpose in every action and service that they provide.
Accessible The company will provide facilities that are easy to access without complication.

Thriving The company will constantly improve its service and facilities to maintain the quality of

its service.

Integrity The company will always be honest and have ethical principles integrated into the

quality of its service.

Open-hearted All guests and employees are welcome in the hotel and resort. The company will also

keep track of its corporate social responsibility for the betterment of the community.

No Discrimination The company will provide its services despite age, race, gender, and physical

challenges.