Navigating Innovation
On this episode:
Conor and Alex chat with Jay Newman, director of strategy at Jump, a strategy and innovation consulting firm. This episode provides insight into what it’s like to work as an innovation consultant, and also discusses the struggle of trying to find and develop innovative new products. Learn about why this branch of consulting is becoming a must-have service for innovators.
Interview Recap:
5 Quick Bites
Reading list: Twitter and Tear Gas by Zeynep Tufekci, Narrative Economics by Robert J. Shiller, The Boutique by Greg Alexander
Skill or topic you’re interested in developing? Ethics of insights & technology
How do you stay up to date with the latest developments in your industry? Stay curious and learn from people around you who are doing different things from you
Favorite CEO? Ed Catmull of Pixar
What industry would you be interested in starting a company in? Lifelong learning
How did you get into innovation consulting?
At Notre Dame, Jay majored in marketing and music performance, which allowed him to approach his career from a different angle. As he came into the second stage of his career, he found himself looking to create opportunities that matched closely with how he saw his own strengths and interests in the world.
At Jump, Jay works with clients advise to figure out innovation and growth strategies with teams of 3 - 4 different strategists. He’s also the acting CFO!
What does Jump do?
Jump helps companies transform themselves for the future in an ever-changing market.
Large corporations are great at scaling, but not really good at figuring out what’s next and embracing change. This is where Jump comes in!
A Framework for Innovation
Jay outlined these steps that he and his team take when working with companies that want to innovate.
Discovery: understanding the world. This is done through observing consumers’ changing needs and analyzing bigger market and demographic trends. These insights are then used to structure what the organization should work on.
Design: what are the new things we can create in order to be a better service to those unmet needs and insights?
Delivery: this is all about business strategy. How can businesses get these critical insights out into the world by scaling them?
What problems are companies currently facing (and why do they need Jump’s help)?
The modern (large-scale, specialized, hierarchical) organization is modeled after the Industrial Revolution factory, which is modeled after the military, which is modeled after religious systems like the Catholic Church.
So by design, organizations are great at taking advantage of existing knowledge but not discovering, learning, and innovating.
The life cycle of change is getting shorter and shorter, which means that these organizations need to faster build new systems to navigate change. This can be done through the inclusion of a diverse and global perspective of minds, new digital systems, internal changes, and forming an external partnership with innovation consultants like Jump.
Today, many organizations aren’t changing at a fast enough pace to react to external changes happening around them. This is why Jump’s role is so important!
What are some current market trends to take note of?
Customer-centric approach. The modern consumer loves personalization and a variety of options to choose from. As a result, companies need to shift their “why” in doing what they do - are they making a product because it’s feasible, profitable, or needed and wanted by a larger population?
Despite the fast-paced change in the market, large organizations aren’t going away. They provide great value to the world by being able to scale things on a big level.
Innovation consulting sounds cool! How can I develop my design-thinking skills?
Find your “why?”
Embrace a cross-disciplinary mindset
Utilize your own unique passions and background by bringing them together
Fun fact: Jay’s wife is a speech therapist, and he loves reading academic speech therapy journals from the mail to gain insights into his own industry.
Takeaway quote: “Understanding your own curiosities and passions and figuring out how to bring them together as your superpower, even when the organization you’re walking into isn’t as cross-disciplinary as you are, is the magic.” (37:30)
To learn more about Jay and his work, visit https://www.jumpassociates.com/.
