Breakthrough Innovation

Why Innovation Theater Still Dominates Corporate America with David J Bland


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In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we sit down with David J. Bland, founder of Precoil, co-author of the global bestseller Testing Business Ideas, and creator of the EMT (Extract, Map, Test) framework — a practical approach that Fortune 500 teams use to run smarter experiments and reduce risk in real innovation work.

David shares hard-won truths about why most innovation efforts stall, how to build momentum inside bureaucracy, and how to stop treating experimentation like a one-time event.


📉 Why innovation theater is still rampant — and how to spot it

🧪 The real reason most experiments don’t de-risk anything

📊 Why failure needs structure, not slogans (“fail smart” > “fail fast”)

🎃 How “Dead Projects Day” at DuPont changed how leaders saw failure

🎯 How to shift accountability from performance to learning


Whether you're building a venture, running a transformation, or leading a product team, this episode is packed with field-tested wisdom from one of the best in the game.

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Breakthrough InnovationBy JL Heather