Why does corporate innovation fail so often — even with talented teams and strong ideas? In this episode of The Innovation Show with Aidan McCullen, intrapreneur and innovation veteran Chuck House returns to explain why innovation dies when projects, programs, and strategy aren't clearly connected — and why executives often misjudge innovation timelines because they're optimizing established businesses.

Chuck breaks down the 4 intrapreneur traits (curiosity, perspective, resilience, and comfort with data) and the overlooked career skill that makes or breaks intrapreneurs: managing down AND managing up. Learn how to build team trust, navigate organizational politics, make "invisible work" visible, and persuade decision-makers to keep the right bets alive.

He also challenges traditional project review approaches (IRR, cost/schedule targets, early sales projections) and introduces his practical alignment tool: the Return Map — a living, cross-functional view that integrates investment, revenue, and profit over time, assigns accountability across functions, and forces iterative re-forecasting as reality changes (slips, market windows, manufacturing costs, and sales forecasts).

In this episode

Why innovation feels like "snakes and ladders" inside large organisations
Steve Jobs as a blueprint: iPod → iTunes → iPhone as a strategic cycle
Managing up: credibility, trust, and navigating corporate politics
Why HQ metrics can kill risky projects too early
Brunnergrams vs strategy: what engineering tracking misses
How Return Maps improve alignment, accountability, and forecasting
Teaser: a future conversation with Kodak digital camera inventor Steve Sasson

Sponsor: Kyndryl

Corporate Innovation Strategy: Return Maps, Managing Up & Forecasting with Chuck House

The Innovation Show