"I see dead people."

That was Nancy Dawes' answer when Bruce Vojak asked her how she did it. The chemical engineer who took Olay from a dying brand to a billion-dollar product line wasn't being mysterious — she was telling him she saw patterns no-one else did. And the real burden, she realised, wasn't seeing them. It was getting an entire organisation to see them too.

In part two of our Serial Innovators series, Bruce Vojak returns to unpack the chapter most innovators learn the hard way: the politics. In over 90% of a mature firm, resources, people and management attention are locked onto today's products. Breakthrough innovation has to fight all of it — for capital, for headcount, for strategic oxygen — and that fight is political by design.

Bruce is co-author of Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms (with Ray Price and Abby Griffin), founder of Breakthrough Innovation Advisors, and former Associate Dean for Administration at the University of Illinois College of Engineering.

In this conversation, Bruce reveals:

The Galileo scenario — why a serial innovator looks at the same data as everyone else and sees a completely different solution
Why politics loses its negative meaning the moment you realise it is the only way to actually serve the customer
Strategic coherence vs tactical coherence — and the one question to ask before you push any breakthrough idea into your firm
"Crossing the bridge" from the naïve view (invention is sufficient, the manager will recognise it) to political pragmatism
The four elements of trust — competence, reliability, openness, concern — that buy a serial innovator the right to be heard
Why every breakthrough story Bruce found came from an emergent team, not a pre-formed innovation team
The "Stone Soup" model of recruiting allies one favour at a time
The Disneyland queue problem of selling internally — you think you've got buy-in, and then there are ten more people behind the next corner
Soft influence (planting seeds, telling stories, "people tolerate my conclusions but act on their own conclusions") and hard influence (data, prototypes, signed purchase orders, customer pull-through)
"The best marketing research is a signed purchase order" — the line Bruce still uses as a filter today
Buckminster Fuller's outlaw quote, and his trim tab metaphor — how one person, properly placed, can move the whole ship
Chuck House's HP defiance and the line that captures every serial innovator who ever risked their job for the work: "I wasn't trying to be defiant. I just wanted a success for HP. It never occurred to me it might cost me my job."

00:00 Sponsor Message

00:25 Why Breakthroughs Stall

01:15 Meet Bruce Vojak

02:36 Seeing Hidden Patterns

06:14 Innovation Lenses

09:28 Strategic vs Tactical Coherence

10:37 Reframing Politics

11:57 QWERTY Switching Costs

14:27 Owning the Political Work

18:00 Trust and Early Wins

21:14 Crossing the Bridge

30:04 Convincing Many Stakeholders

31:40 Engaging Allies Slowly

33:01 Emergent Teams Not Assigned

38:21 Innovation as Team Sport

39:10 Positioning for Strategy Fit

43:26 Too Many Innovators

44:38 Proof via Purchase Orders

46:25 Outlaw Area and Trim Tab

50:17 Politics Navigation Diagram

53:15 Manager Perspective Teaser

55:46 Wrap Up and Sponsor

About Bruce Vojak Bruce is co-author of Serial Innovators and Innovation Code, founder of Breakthrough Innovation Advisors, and former Associate Dean for Administration at the University of Illinois College of Engineering. He advises executive teams and boards on how to find, support and unleash serial innovators inside mature firms.

Website: https://breakthrough-innovation-advisors.com

Book: Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create and Deliver Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms

About The Innovation Show The Thinkers50-recognised podcast hosted by Aidan McCullen — author of Undisruptable, keynote speaker and former pro athlete — where square pegs find their place in a world of round holes. Conversations with the world's leading authors, scientists and practitioners on disruption, innovation, transformation, leadership, AI, creativity and the ideas shaping tomorrow.

This series is brought to you by Kyndryl, who run and reimagine the technology systems that drive advantage for the world's leading businesses. Kyndryl helps leaders harness AI-powered consulting and managed-service capability for smarter decisions, faster innovation and lasting competitive edge. Learn more about Kyndryl and the Kyndryl Institute at https://www.kyndryl.com.

Subscribe to the Thursday Thought on Substack for a chance to win a copy of Serial Innovators, with thanks to Kyndryl: https://thethursdaythought.substack.com

Follow and listen: Website: https://theinnovationshow.io

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-innovation-show/id1148455669

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/63nFKf4bsSWo3W72gWtOsK?si=b62d9614237c4450

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/theinnovationshow

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidanmccullen

Bruce Vojak — Navigating the Politics of Breakthrough Innovation (Part 2 of 3)

The Innovation Show

Bruce Vojak — Navigating the Politics of Breakthrough Innovation (Part 2 of 3)