Why True Leaders Innovate While Managers Merely Administer

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

1. Introduction: The New Paradigm of Leadership

In an age defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), leadership is no longer just about efficiency, control, or decision-making—it is about 360-degree innovation. When we say “Leadership is Innovation @ 360°,” we mean leadership must innovate across every vector—strategy, systems, culture, process, products, people, and purpose.

A manager may administer the present, but a leader must architect the future. While administration sustains, innovation transforms.

According to a McKinsey Global Survey, 84% of executives agree that innovation is extremely important to their growth strategy—but only 6% are satisfied with their innovation performance. This gap underscores the dire need for Innovation-Driven Leadership.

2. Why Managers Administer, But Leaders Innovate

Harvard Business Review notes: “Innovation requires challenging the existing order, which is uncomfortable for managers conditioned to seek stability.”

Leaders, on the other hand, create psychological safety and purpose-driven cultures where creativity, experimentation, and disruption are not only allowed—but encouraged.

3. Strategic Goal Setting: The Seed of Innovation

Innovation must start with strategic goal clarity. The Big Four (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte) use frameworks like:

a) SMARTER Goals Framework

• Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound, Evaluated, Reviewed
• Aligns innovation efforts with business outcomes.

b) OGSM Model

• Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Measures
  Used widely by Procter & Gamble and advised by Bain & Co, OGSM aligns long-term aspirations with actionable innovation milestones.

c) OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)

• Used by Google, Intel, and adopted by Deloitte consulting clients
• Ensures teams innovate toward key breakthrough results with focus and flexibility.

4. Critical Thinking: Innovation’s Cognitive Engine

Innovation is not just about ideas—it’s about the quality of thinking behind them. Top consulting firms embed critical thinking through:

a) MECE Principle (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) – McKinsey

• Breaks down complex problems to explore innovation paths clearly.

b) Issue Tree Analysis

• Dissects root causes of stagnation and opportunities for new value creation.

c) SCAMPER Technique

• Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse – used to creatively think about product/process improvements.

IBM’s Design Thinking integrates creative ideation with critical evaluation, now adopted by over 400 Fortune 500 firms.

5. PPF Analysis: Past-Present-Future Mapping for Innovation

A proprietary tool in executive coaching and consulting circles, PPF Analysis decodes innovation opportunities by dissecting:

BCG’s Transformation Framework begins with this backward-forward scan before deploying innovation agendas.

6. PLC Evaluation: Innovating Across Product Lifecycle

Product Life Cycle (PLC) evaluation helps leaders spot inflection points for innovation.

Deloitte uses PLC mapping in Digital Transformation Journeys to introduce AI, automation, or platform shifts at maturity or decline phases.

7. Discovery Analysis: The Innovation DNA

Every consulting engagement begins with Discovery Analysis—a deep diagnostic of what is, what isn’t, and what could be. Core elements include:

a) SWOT + TOWS Matrix

Converting weaknesses into opportunities and threats into innovation possibilities.

b) Design Thinking Discovery Phase

• Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test
• Used by Accenture, IDEO, and Deloitte Digital

c) Voice of Customer (VoC) + Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)

Understand unmet needs and latent desires as innovation anchors.

Research by Harvard’s Clayton Christensen shows: “95% of innovation failures occur due to poor understanding of the real job customers want done.”

8. Strategic Frameworks Used by Big Four & Top Consulting Groups

a) McKinsey’s Three Horizons of Growth

• Horizon 1: Core innovation
• Horizon 2: Adjacent market expansion
• Horizon 3: Disruptive/new innovation
  Encourages leaders to balance today’s needs with tomorrow’s breakthroughs.

b) BCG’s Innovation-to-Impact Chain

• Discover → Develop → Diffuse → Deliver
  Used to track innovation from ideation to actual business impact.

c) Deloitte’s Business Chemistry + Greenhouse Innovation Labs

• Combines neuroscience with leadership behavior analysis to cultivate innovative teams.

d) Bain’s Elements of Value Pyramid

• Focuses on delivering functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact value through innovation.

9. Tools & Models Empowering 360° Innovation Leadership

10. Closing the Loop: Becoming the Innovation Lighthouse

A leader practicing Innovation @ 360° doesn’t just innovate in product or profit. They inspire innovation in:

• Culture – psychological safety, growth mindset
• Process – agility, lean experimentation
• People – skill upgradation, intrapreneurship
• Purpose – aligning values with vision
• Platform – adopting tech-enabled future-readiness

As Jeff Bezos said, “If you don’t understand the details of your business, you are going to fail. But if you’re not constantly reinventing it, you’re already dead.”

Conclusion: From Leader to Innovator-in-Chief

Leadership today is not a static title—it’s a dynamic innovation role. A leader who doesn’t innovate across 360° will soon become obsolete in a world that reinvents itself every quarter.

Great leaders:

• Set strategic innovation goals
• Engage in critical thinking
• Use PPF and PLC lenses to forecast change
• Deploy global consulting frameworks
• Embrace discovery, not just delivery

🔧 Leadership Innovation Toolkit for C-Suite Leaders

Anupam Sharma

Psychotech Evangelist

Coach I Mentor Trainer

Counselor I Consultant