Who is the Strategy Innovation Group, LLC?
We are experienced and passionate professionals who are on a mission to unleash an organization’s imagination for new growth. We have decades of global experience working with organizations who want to discover "what’s next” on their innovation landscape for growth.
Why choose us for Hospitality?
In 2016, we completed a 3-year program for Host Hotels & Resorts, applying the process outlined in our book, The Power of Strategy Innovation, to their 100+ four and five star properties from a dozen brands such as, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Hyatt, and others. The goal was to achieve innovative growth. Each property used our process as a guide for new revenue opportunity identification through monetization with, importantly, a 48% margin. This is top and bottom line results that were invisible when we started.
Strategy Innovation harnesses the talents of the organization to achieve a growth imperative. We provide the architecture for a systemic Innovation Capability for any Hospitality enterprise, large or small, that inspires the creation of a sustainable Innovation Portfolio for growth. Our Innovation Capability Programs will replace any ad hoc approach with a disciplined, proven approach for creating new, profitable value.
Grow House at the Ritz-Carlton Naples: Chef George Fistrovich grows salad greens (and reds and yellows) inside of a newly installed climate controlled environment. (Photo provided by Ritz-Carlton.)
Our book helps you...
“Transform a corporation to a new growth curve, as well as clearly articulating a process whereby this transformation can take place.”
Senior Vice President, 3M
Winner of the 2016 Entrepreneurial Spirit Award
“In an increasingly non-linear economy, incremental change is not enough — you have to build a capacity for strategy innovation, one that increases your ability to recognize new opportunities. The goal is to create a movement in your company — a movement that unleashes strategy innovation.”
How might Hospitality brands and organizations elevate their innovation practice?
Many, if not most, Hospitality brands and organizations use a “Top down” approach for the discovery and execution of enterprise-wide innovation. At the corporate level, insights are identified and used as a catalyst to identify innovative growth opportunities. Corporate HQ then directs the properties where and how to innovate. (As Marriott, Hyatt and others have shown, this can be a very effective practice.)
Why establish an Innovation Capability inside a hotel or resort?
There is another way besides “Top down”. It is “Bottom up”. With this approach, there is a call to action by senior leadership for employee Innovation Teams (iTeams) at properties to innovate. Equipped with basic training in a proven innovation process, employees answer the call to action by collaboratively creating an Innovation Portfolio for the property with opportunities to be monetized in the near to long term. This is “Bottom up" grassroots-inspired innovation!
What does it mean when a Hospitality property has an Innovation Capability?
From our decades of forming and working with high performing iTeams, we know there are a few required ingredients that foster their success:
A clear and loud “call to action” by senior leadership for innovative growth.
An investment of resources (time, training and a way to access some venture capital, if needed) that reflect the “seriousness” of the goal for innovative growth.
A proven Innovation Process embraced by and tailored to the organization.
An organizational climate and culture that supports the achievement of the innovation mandate.
Why are an Innovation Capability and an Innovation Portfolio assets for a Hospitality organization?
With an Innovation Portfolio, organizations are more agile in the near term, poised to monetize opportunities more quickly, and better able to sustain innovative growth over the long term.
For Hospitality brands and organizations who care about their culture and nurture core values like entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, and talent development, an Innovation Capability enriches the culture in these ways and makes these core values “real” by engaging people in their pragmatic application.
With an Innovation Capability and developed opportunities for profitable growth, near to long term, an organization typically receives an “innovation premium” in their valuation over organizations who lack this capability and a growth portfolio of opportunities.
How does Strategy Innovation utilize the principles of Design Thinking, Disruptive Innovation and Blue Ocean opportunities?
Strategy Innovation provides the architecture for an Innovation Capability that encompasses the best of these approaches and more. Our architecture for building and sustaining an Innovation Capability is driven by customer insights, marketplace dynamics (future forces) and the discovery or invention of innovative models for the delivery of new “value”.
Marriott General Managers on the Value of the Host Hotels' Strategy Innovation Engagement:
"I learned that innovation is a journey. We now have an established and functioning iTeam [innovation team] at my property that we did not have when we started in 2014."
"Marriott has massive innovation in the company. However, your Strategy Innovation methodology can raise the innovation bar at Marriott."
“The innovation methodology unleashed my creativity for identifying and achieving WIGs.”
“The work on the Host Innovation mandate changed me from a problem solver to a creative problem solver.”
“We need to apply creativity and innovation across more areas of the business and not just customer service and satisfaction, such as how to engage the workforce, increase revenue and grow profitability.”
“The book (The Power of Strategy Innovation) changes your mindset for how to impact the future.”
“Absolutely, an Innovation Mandate (Host Hotels) would work in the Marriott world with a similar timeline and approach.”
Grassroots-Inspired Innovation
Strategy Innovation In Other Industries
What companies have created using Strategy Innovation:
By discovering and monetizing incremental opportunities, disruptive opportunities, blue ocean opportunities, M&A opportunities and others, as needed, our clients harness the power of Strategy Innovation to build a robust growth pipeline and roadmap.
3M used Strategy Innovation to create a pipeline of non-incremental to breakthrough opportunities that changed the basis of competition and valued by the CEO at $6 billion.
The Center for Creative Leadership used Strategy Innovation to create and align on a roadmap for long-term global growth, resulting in new CCL products and services.
P&G used Strategy Innovation as a framework for the launch of Corporate New Ventures (CNV) and to embed a more entrepreneurial culture.
HP Printer Business Unit used Strategy Innovation to “invent” a plan for hyper-growth. Generated 70% of HP’s profits over a decade.
Barclays Global Investors used Strategy Innovation to name and develop a brand strategy for iShares. Today iShares is the largest issuer of ETFs in the US and the world.
United Way Worldwide used Strategy Innovation as a framework for a new Mobile Innovations Lab to inspire social innovation and train 1,700 local leaders in the new MIL process.
"PRODUCT OF THE YEAR" STORY
Strategy innovation does not always begin with a visionary founder in a start-up mode—it can happen in fifty-plus-year-old companies. It does not always germinate in technology-oriented companies—it can happen in companies that bend metal for their main business. It does not have to create a whole new industry—it can happen in companies that just want to grow their businesses.