John leads the empowered innovation program within BAE, which is a nearly $20 billion multinational defense, security and aerospace company.   In the episode we dive into how they’ve organized their innovation strategy into 4 operational buckets and how they not only identify new products, but innovate on the core business. We also talk about how they have done a fantastic job getting rid of the distance between the end customer and new product development teams amongst other things.   Also, we’re getting great feedback on our Lean Innovation Assessment tool, so if you want to try it out and identify opportunities for growth in your organization, email me at sam@movestheneedle.com and I’d be happy to pass it along in exchange for some feedback.   Other topics in today’s episode include:

• Balancing internal innovation with external innovation scouting.
• How BAE organizes their innovation strategy into 4 operational buckets.
• Innovating upon the core business functions in addition to exploring and implementing new products.
• How BAE moves products from discovery/search mode into the execution engine of the business.
• Implicit vs Explicit needs, and how BAE maintains a competitive advantage by constantly searching and creating solutions for the implicit needs of customers.