Cultivating Innovation Capital: Strategic Leadership for Unproven Ideas

Key Quotes

"Like social or political capital, it’s a power to motivate employees, win the buy-in of stakeholders, and sell breakthrough products. Furr argues that innovation capital is something everyone can develop and grow by using something he calls impression amplifiers."

Nathan Furr argues that "innovation capital" is a crucial resource for leaders, akin to social or political capital. This capital enables leaders to motivate teams, gain support from stakeholders, and successfully market new products. Furr emphasizes that this is not an innate trait but a developable skill, achievable through the strategic use of "impression amplifiers."

"what we don't talk about is how do you actually win the backing for your ideas in the first place and you know the aha the aha for this came to us really pointedly in an interview we were doing with marc benioff who's the founder and ceo of salesforce com you know we're sitting in this interview and and marc benioff is describing his ability to do new things and change the organization and he said you know i've spent the last many years you know 17 years building up my ability to change this organization to do new things and he said it's like political capital but it's but it's not it's more like you could almost call it innovation capital and and it's something i can use to get things done"

This quote highlights a critical gap in innovation discourse: the focus often remains on idea generation rather than securing support for those ideas. Nathan Furr recounts how Marc Benioff's description of consciously building his capacity to enact change within Salesforce, likening it to "innovation capital," provided a key insight for their research. This illustrates that even established leaders must actively cultivate this capital to drive organizational change.

"so i think innovation capital matters for both individuals and organizations and i think it matters a lot for individuals at all levels of organization listen absolutely as a ceo you have to i have to say you have to be thinking about your innovation capital because i guarantee that your environment will change at some point and you're going to need the ability to win the resources and support to change that organization i mean the ceo has to think about this the leaders in an organization have to think about this i i've worked with a lot of leaders who don't but you got to think about it as an individual too because innovation capital takes time and so even when we looked inside organizations or we looked at entrepreneurs it was very critical that they were thinking early about their innovation capital and how they could build it up over time so that when they had like a really powerful idea they could be the ones to advance it otherwise they have to kind of hand it off to somebody who has say more innovation capital than they do to actually get something done"

Nathan Furr asserts that innovation capital is vital for both individuals and organizations, regardless of their position. He stresses that leaders, including CEOs, must continuously develop this capital to navigate inevitable environmental changes and secure necessary resources for transformation. Furr also points out that individuals at any career stage should proactively build their innovation capital over time to ensure they can champion their own impactful ideas.

"what we really came down to is really four elements uh it's said in simple word who you are who you know what you've done and the things you do the actions you take to get attention for your ideas what we call impression amplifiers"

Nathan Furr breaks down the core components of innovation capital into four distinct elements. These are "who you are," referring to personal attributes; "who you know," encompassing one's network; "what you've done," representing past accomplishments; and "impression amplifiers," which are actions taken to draw attention to one's ideas. Furr presents these as the foundational pillars for developing and leveraging innovation capital.

"impression amplifiers are essentially ways of taking the things that are really important and making them more visible and clear to people you're just trying to raise signal over over noise yeah these are more like activities or actions you take to win support for your ideas"

Nathan Furr defines "impression amplifiers" as deliberate actions or activities designed to increase the visibility and clarity of important concepts or ideas. He explains that these are not merely about making things known, but are strategic efforts to cut through the "noise" and effectively gain support for one's initiatives. Furr frames these amplifiers as practical tools for advancing ideas within an organization or market.

"storytelling is a term we use so much in business but most of what our stories are are chronologies uh kind of problem solution summaries uh and really great stories we forget have characters conflict and resolution it's not a chronology it's not a problem solution statement they also often integrate listeners into their story if possible so for example you know i love the example of jack ma i mean the guy before he founds alibaba is like a case study in failure i mean the guy like he failed his elementary exams three times his middle school exams twice his high school exams three times he only gets into the university because the worst university in his town has some open slots reserved for men he goes afterwards to apply for a job he applies for a job at kfc kentucky fried chicken there's 25 applicants they hire 24 he's number 25 who doesn't get hired his first two ventures are not commercial successes i mean this is not a guy who has a reputation for success but he was so able to pull people into alibaba not just investors but but employees because he was so good at telling the story of how they were going to transform china and he made the people who were around him part of that story"

Nathan Furr distinguishes effective storytelling from simple chronologies or problem-solution summaries, emphasizing the need for characters, conflict, and resolution. He uses Jack Ma's journey to illustrate how compelling narratives can rally support, even from individuals with a history of failure. Furr highlights that great storytellers, like Ma, integrate their audience into the narrative, making them active participants in the envisioned transformation.