Innovation Lab Excellence and innovation in banks

Thanks to George Bailly from fintechOS for the great discussion of Innovation Lab Excellence!

George and I talked about what it takes to be an innovator in the fintech space!

Time stamp:

01:10  How is it that you wrote a book about Innovation Labs?   

I was an innovator and was just used to people saying No! I wrote ILE to help a younger generation of innovators working in banking.  It doesn’t come easily!

04:10 Did I see successful innovation labs?  

The root of success isn’t just because the lab is great, but because senior management is supportive of innovation.  All we can hope is that innovation is judged fairly by its merit.

06:40  Lockheed Martin’s “Skunkworks”?  

Innovation isn’t new.  Innovators you aren’t alone and the problems you face have been faced before.  Skunkworks is a historical reference so that innovators understand that their problems are not new.

10:00  What to watch out for when an innovation lab isn’t performing?

I introduce the “best practices” that can help innovators understand what they can do better.  These aren’t rules!

15:47  People matter!

Labs are better off getting people’s buy-in than focusing solely on technical skills.

16:50 What happens if an Innovation Lab is successful?  Should they be temporary?

For now, as we are at the beginning of the digital world, they will be a permanent fixture.  I don’t see an end to digital innovation for another 20 years.

19:20 There will always be a bleeding-edge!

We’re just babies in our new digital world.  We are going to see amazing things!   This is how I got interested in writing “Cashless” I live in a world that is easily a decade ahead!