Corporate Explorer

11The Double Helix: How Corporate Explorers Lead Innovation and Change

The fate of Bill Ruh shows how organizational politics and inertia can undermine ventures like GE Digital. Whatever the merits of Predix as an innovation, it was these challenges that contributed to the demise of Ruh's venture. There is nothing unusual about what happened at GE. Corporate Explorers should expect to face many of the same pressures and have a plan to manage them. New corporate ventures are dependent on the core business for investment and need access to its assets to succeed. Managing these dependencies is, a prerequisite for success. Corporate Explorers are both innovators and leaders of change. The success of one is dependent on the other; that is why we call it a double helix. The role of change leader and innovation leader are as tightly intertwined as the double helix molecules of our DNA. Focus on innovation, without managing change, then the new venture will be at risk. Corporate Explorers need a plan for how to explore the business opportunity and another for managing the relationship with the core business. This chapter focuses on the plan for being a change leader, the next three are dedicated to innovation, though throughout we will highlight how Corporate Explorers are managing both roles simultaneously.

There are three main dependencies a Corporate Explorer needs to manage. The corporation is an investor. They get to define expectations, release funding, and evaluate progress. ...