The Imagination Machine

 

Chapter Ten

REKINDLING IMAGINATION

You’re probably familiar with the defeat of the mobile phone champion Nokia at the hands of Apple. But there’s a part of the story that’s often left out: Nokia subsequently reimagined itself and became one of the major players in global telecommunications infrastructure. How did it do this and what was the role of leadership in rekindling imagination?

Before Risto Siilasmaa’s appointment in 2012 as Nokia’s chairman, the culture of Nokia’s board and executive team had been conservative and hierarchical: there was little disagreement, “no exploration of alternative scenarios and models,” and a “faith that our size would enable us to push through.”¹ Siilasmaa aimed to kick-start imagination by getting the ...