Why Great Innovations Fail to Scale 

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Innovation increasingly depends on partnerships. As complexity and specialization rise and technologies such as AI reshape workflows and product portfolios, no single team or company has all the capabilities, tools, or authority needed to move ideas from prototype to scale. Organizations must “partner or die,” as one executive told the authors. But sharing the driver’s seat is difficult. The more that innovation relies on collaboration across groups and firms, the more initiatives are likely to stall—or worse, fail—because the partnerships meant to deliver them break down.

The authors’ study of firms that get innovation right finds that a particular type of leadership—what they call “bridging”—drives collaboration effectively across boundaries.  Bridgers have strong emotional and contextual intelligence, which enables them to build the trust, influence, and commitment across partners that are essential to move innovation forward.  That’s because bridgers perform three critical functions: They curate partners, translate across boundaries, and integrate partners’ disparate efforts.

The relationships that bridgers build through these activities are critical to getting partners to take risks and invest their time and effort beyond their core responsibilities. Specifically, bridgers are skilled at fostering the following: mutual trust, mutual influence and mutual commitment.

Curating partners.  Bridging begins with selecting and attracting the right partners—the stakeholders who will be needed throughout the innovation process. That includes individuals who will provide access to key capabilities as well as those from whom support or buy-in is needed.  Bridgers foster broad and diverse personal networks they can leverage. When they are in exploration mode, they tend to cast a wide net; when a particular initiative is well-defined, they target their outreach.

Translating among partners.  Bridgers recognize that partners differ in their priorities, strengths, and tolerance for risk. Differences along these dimensions often create misunderstandings and operational friction, whether in the form of misread cues about why one party continues to press an issue or in substantive divergences in timelines or goals. To avoid conflicts and address those that cannot be prevented, bridgers translate across differences to build common understanding.

Integrating disparate intentions and ways of working.  As bridgers build shared understanding across partners, they also address the practical challenge of getting them to collaborate effectively. They help define a shared intention, or north star, and they coordinate partners’ efforts so that projects can proceed. This work is ongoing throughout the partnership; there is no one-time fix.

How to Develop Bridgers.  Companies looking to scale innovation quickly need bridgers in roles throughout the organization, from senior executives tasked with overhauling innovation internally to midlevel managers serving on innovative projects as the interface for their function or business unit.  But it can be difficult to persuade people to take on these leadership roles.  To identify potential bridgers among your employees, begin by looking to the people who already work successfully at boundaries: those who assemble cross-functional or other cross-group teams, build robust networks with peers and senior stakeholders, and volunteer in diverse activities outside the company. With some reflection, you may realize you already know who they are.  To develop potential bridgers, place individuals in roles that require them to work across functions, business units, or geographies so that they gain experience in contexts with different operating models and power dynamics. Encourage zigzag career paths and role rotations as well as involvement in external communities (such as in industry associations, local entrepreneurship, or communities of practice). Give them stretch assignments that teach them to work across differences.  Once bridgers take on leadership positions, give them air cover and step in with support when needed.  Finally, give bridgers visibility. Not only do they deserve it, but doing so will encourage others to embrace innovation.

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