Herr & Mister

What is an Innovation Identity?

In short, it is an identity that is separate from an original identity. A marginal identity that has permission to explore uncharted territory that the more mainstream identity would not allow. And exactly because of that it may take you and your company completely new places and help you in your search for breakthrough innovation.

How you can benefit from an Innovation Identity

Your organization's identity is part of its individual success story. It helps your employees and consumers to understand who you are and what you do. But it also prevents you from being and doing things differently. An Innovation Identity helps your company in two ways: First, innovation occurs that would not be supported within the original organizational identity. The concept of creating a second entity that would go on to destroy the original was originally postulated by Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen in his book The Innovator's Dilemma, later used as a foundation for innovation through cannibalization at Apple by Steve Jobs. Second, new thinking infiltrates the old entity, creating opportunity for more rapid change within the original organizational identity.

We work with organizations to build Innovation Identities

We help the leadership of these organizations identify the people, processes and capital that is at the margins, the shadow of the organization. We help them extract those assets and create a new, external identity that operates at the margins where true innovation happens. When innovation happens, it can be integrated back into the original company or implemented externally.

Innovation Identities help reshape the original organizational entity

People that filter through the Innovation Identity return to the original identity with a new way of looking at work, a new set of processes and capabilities to create interventions within the new company. The work of Nabakov the lepidopterist informed the work of Nabakov the writer. The Tokyo consultant consults as someone who moonlights as a DJ might.

And we do this with fast processes, a play-like approach and the right team-structure

When we start working with a client, we move fast. In a special four-step process we map current organizational processes, extract key identity structures, jointly create the Innovation Identity and then together implement resulting change. The whole innovation process works like a dialogue that integrates the most creative members of our client organization. And it succeeds because we bring the right people together. When creative thinkers and doers break from their normal shell and work with the right tools in the right teams, they can build an Innovativion Identity that is adaptable as water.

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Herr
Thomas Hirschmann
Mister
Thomas Hirschmann