26-03-2025
Future-Proof Your Business: Adaptability, Creativity and Innovation
Michael Brian Lee, Creative Breakthrough Catalyst and Founder, Innotivity Institute.
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In today's fast-moving world, companies either shoot ahead or fall behind. How do you not just keep your head above water but swim faster than everyone else?
The answer is the three-step cycle of adaptability, creativity and innovation, which I like to emphasize is a single process by calling it ACI.
Business adaptability isn't a luxury. Nearly 80% of businesses need to adapt their operations every two to five years to remain competitive. Companies that fail to pivot, fail period.
This isn't new. For decades, Firestone dominated the U.S. tire market—until Michelin introduced radial tires and shifted the reality. Firestone stayed the course. The result? Quality tanked, recalls mounted and sales collapsed. By the late 1980s, Bridgestone bought them out.
What is adaptability anyway? I define it as shifting how a company perceives itself. It requires a shift in culture and systems, not just blind hope.
Spotify started by streaming music. Later it reshaped how we consume it, layering in podcasts, exclusive content and AI-driven playlists.
Apple, originally a computer company, reinvented itself by integrating design, software and ecosystem thinking. This came from a deliberate willingness to change how the company's leaders saw Apple's identity.
Adaptable companies don't react—they set the pace. How can you cultivate adaptability in your own situation?
• Give mixed teams the power to make quick calls.
• Run "what-if" drills before market shifts force your hand.
• Watch the data, because real time beats hindsight every time.
After adapting, the next step is to get creative. Once you've embraced change, it's time to start thinking in new ways. While adaptability keeps you afloat, creativity sets you apart. Creativity in business isn't art—it's strategy in disguise.
Gmail, Google Maps and Post-it Notes all began as passion projects. When teams are empowered to play and take risks, creative solutions follow.
Pixar's 'Braintrust' thrives on radical candor—turning rough ideas into blockbusters through honest, no-ego critique. This process has led to Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Inside Out, The Incredibles and Up. Pixar's culture doesn't just tolerate criticism—it actively seeks it out.
Building a creative culture demands an environment where employees feel safe to take risks and experiment. To cultivate such an environment, leaders should:
• Establish 'safe-to-fail' spaces where experimentation is encouraged, allowing teams to test ideas quickly and learn from outcomes without reputational risk.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration to spark diverse perspectives and unlock innovative solutions that wouldn't surface in siloed teams.
• Recognize and reward innovative ideas—even when they don't succeed—because celebrating the process motivates continual creative efforts.
A creative culture empowers every employee to contribute, challenge assumptions and collaborate. This leads to a dynamic organization that stays ahead of industry shifts and even sets the standard for them.
When your company is not finding creative solutions on its own, looking outside can help. Creative ideas for creating creativity itself can also help. For example, Lego was near bankruptcy in the early 2000s. To save the company, it launched Lego Ideas, a crowdsourcing platform that invited customers to submit and vote on new product concepts. Revenue soon more than doubled.
Innovation is creativity with skin in the game. It's not just dreaming big; it's about action, betting on ideas and making them pay off.
Companies that prioritize innovation don't just innovate once. Netflix wasn't satisfied to pivot from DVDs to streaming. It eventually moved to original content, creating a new industry long before its rivals caught up. Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon just keep adding industries to their portfolios.
Innovation scales when it's systematic, not sporadic. Clothing retailer Zara has built innovation into its business model. New designs come out in weeks because that is in the strategy. Meanwhile, its competitors are still holding focus groups to figure out whether or not to launch new styles.
Innovation isn't always disruption—sometimes it's just a tweak. Starbucks didn't even need a new product—just a smarter process. Mobile ordering cut wait times and sped up service.
Adaptability, creativity and innovation: Alone, they're strong. Together? They're unstoppable, creating a whirlwind of one following the other and spiraling up.
ACI helps build organizations that anticipate shifts, lead industries and create new market spaces altogether. The companies that leverage ACI don't just adapt to the future—they shape it. They don't just survive storms—they create them.
Here are some tips on how to integrate all three aspects of ACI simultaneously:
• Start R&D labs and run Agile teams. Innovate long-term while staying nimble—like Google, X and Spotify.
• Listen, then anticipate. Airbnb won trust by hearing hosts' needs.
• Tap external talent. Partner with startups, universities and accelerators—Microsoft's secret weapon.
• Break down silos. Use hackathons and workshops to keep ideas flowing company-wide.
• Run lean ACI audits. Skip the complexity—spot gaps with short surveys and staff interviews.
• Reward curiosity over perfection. Microsoft's growth mindset turned failures into billion-dollar lessons.
• Track what matters. Measure ideas proposed, prototypes launched, customer satisfaction and new product revenue.
• Commit to long-term vision. ACI isn't a short-term fix; it's a long-haul strategy that requires patience, investment and buy-in.
• Empower people, not just processes. The most innovative ideas come from unexpected places. Cultivate a culture where every employee feels empowered to contribute.
• Stay uncomfortable. True innovation comes from challenging what's working today to ensure relevance tomorrow.
In a chaotic world, ACI is your best defense—and your best mode of attack. The next big shift isn't waiting for you to get around to noticing it. Companies are either riding the wave or wiping out. Most don't even see the white water coming until it's too late. Will you?
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