How the Best Leaders Develop and Spend “Innovation Capital”

Skip to content Share Podcast HBR On Leadership / Episode 142 How the Best Leaders Develop and Spend “Innovation Capital” Strategy professor Nathan Furr explains why credibility, relationships, and track record matter so much when pitching new ideas. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify RSS Nathan Furr, professor of strategy at INSEAD, researches what makes great innovative leaders, and he reveals how they develop and spend “innovation capital.” 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.” Furr is the coauthor of the book Innovation Capital: How to Compete-and Win-Like the World’s Most Innovative Leaders. Key episode topics include: leadership, innovation, power and influence, persuasion Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast : Why You Need Innovation Capital - And How to Get It Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at hbr.org AMANDA KERSEY: Welcome to HBR On Leadership . These episodes are case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, hand-selected to help you unlock the best in those around you. I’m HBR senior editor and producer Amanda Kersey. If you’re trying to move a new, unproven idea forward and colleagues are slow to back it, this 2019 IdeaCast conversation offers a useful way to think about the role of influence in innovation. It describes how leaders build credibility and support to turn their ideas into reality, especially when working across teams or without full authority. Here’s host Curt Nickisch. CURT NICKISCH: Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were great both great inventors of their time. Tesla was brilliant. He even felt sorry for how long it took Edison to come up with his inventions. But Tesla was eventually forced out of his company and he died penniless. Edison on the other hand racked up commercial success. He managed to motivate employees, woo investors, and win consumers. His inventions broke through to the mass market. Today’s guest says the main reason that Edison succeeded where Tesla failed was because of Edison’s innovation capital. That’s the idea that - similar to social capital or political capital - great innovative leaders develop the power to convince people to join their cause and bring unproven products and ideas to reality. Our guest is Nathan Furr. He’s a strategy professor at INSEAD. Along with his fellow researchers, he studied innovative firms and interviewed their leaders. He’s the coauthor of the book Innovation Capital: How to Compete-and Win-Like the World’s Most Innovative Leaders . Nathan, thanks for being here. NATHAN FURR: Thank you for having me. CURT NICKISCH: Now, I have to say that with all that’s been written in the business press about innovative leaders like - and the cult of the startup - it seems like one thing that has to be really well understood is how people like...

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