Mike Bauer is a leading product and strategy executive, business mentor, and the Chief Products Officer of Sopheon. He joined Sopheon in 2021 and has helped the company expand its SaaS solutions, which make it possible for companies worldwide to bring their innovative products to market. His experience in data communications, enterprise software, marketing automation, and big data led him to believe in the power of innovation. He graduated from Harvard Business School and Ohio State University and serves as a business mentor at the Founder Institute.
Today, I’m checking back in with Mike to continue our conversation from November 2021 about enterprise innovation management and project portfolio management. He shares what he learned from interviewing over 100 clients about approaches to innovation. He defines innovation in the current business landscape and clarifies that the definition is much broader than commonly assumed. He discusses the factors that have to come together for a company to innovate and how failure is a part of innovation. Mike also reveals the role of company culture and offers advice on fostering a culture that encourages innovation.
“You don't mandate an innovative culture—you build it.” -Mike Bauer
This week on Innovation Talks:
- Why enterprise innovation management and project portfolio management are two sides of the same coin
- The challenges innovators face
- Mike’s observations from talking to over 100 clients
- What innovation can look like for businesses
- All the factors that need to come together to make innovation possible
- Why 60% to 80% of innovations fail
- What executives need to focus on to be able to innovate “at scale”
- Why ideation is an essential part of innovation
- The most important skill for the ideation process
- Why coming up with great ideas is only the first step
- Setting up a connected system to drive innovation
- Why Mike supports the idea of DevOps
- Why business owners need to bring together practices, people, and tools to innovate successfully
- Why philosophies aren’t enough to operationalize
- Is company culture or the way employees do their jobs more important
- Why accepting failure is part of innovation
- How to build an innovation culture at your company
- How innovation benefits customers and how Sopheon empowers customers with innovation
Resources Mentioned:
- Book: Inspired: How To Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
- Book: Innovation Accounting by Esther Gons and Dan Toma
- Book: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Connect with Mike Bauer:
This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon
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