Necessity Is the Mother of Invention

Michael   Tushman

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Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Innovation and Creativity in Times of Crisis

by Michael Tushman

Language: English

Format: Video

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Citation:

Tushman, Michael. "Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Innovation and Creativity in Times of Crisis." Leadership in Times of Crisis (webinar series), Women's Leadership Initiative, University of Delaware, May 29, 2020.

About the Author

Michael L. Tushman

Baker Foundation Professor, Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, Charles B. (Tex) Thornton Chair of the Advanced Management Program

Organizational Behavior

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Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2020 (Revised July 2020)

Deloitte's Pixel (A): Consulting with Open Talent

Michael L. Tushman, John Winsor and Kerry Herman

Deloitte Consulting’s General Manager Balaji Bondili, head of Pixel, considers how best to grow Deloitte Consulting’s use of open (on-demand) talent, as consulting companies and their clients face transformative change in the way client engagements and projects get done. Pixel, started in 2014, helps facilitate open (or on-demand) talent and crowdsourcing for Deloitte Consulting client engagements, to access specific, difficult-to-find expertise, collaborate to develop new products and/or insights, and to design, build, and test new digital assets. Bondili has found some avid users—and evangelists—of Pixel’s services among Deloitte Consulting’s principals, however uptake across the broader organization has been slow, and in some pockets has met with deep resistance.

Keywords: Disruption; Talent and Talent Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States;

Citation:
Tushman, Michael L., John Winsor, and Kerry Herman. "Deloitte's Pixel (A): Consulting with Open Talent." Harvard Business School Case 420-003, June 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details

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Article | MIT Sloan Management Review (website)

The Role of the Board Chair During a Crisis

Achim Schmitt, Gilbert Probst and Michael Tushman

A company’s long-term survival during a crisis depends on complementary roles, strategic alignment, and chemistry between the chair and CEO.

Keywords: board chair; Management Teams; Crisis Management; Relationships;

Citation:
Schmitt, Achim, Gilbert Probst, and Michael Tushman. "The Role of the Board Chair During a Crisis." MIT Sloan Management Review (website) (April 28, 2020). View Details

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Article | Strategy & Leadership | 2019

Overcoming Cultural Resistance to Open Source Innovation

John Winsor, Jin Hyun Paik, Michael Tushman and Karim R. Lakhani

Purpose: This article offers insight on how to effectively help incumbent organizations prepare for global business shifts to open source and digital business models.
Design/methodology/approach: Discussion related to observation, experience and case studies related to incumbent organizations and their efforts to adopt open source models and business tools.
Findings: Companies that let their old culture reject the new risk becoming obsolete if doing so inhibits their rethinking of their future using powerful tools like crowdsourcing, blockchain, customer experience-based connections, integrating workflows with artificial intelligence (AI), automated technologies and digital business platforms. These new ways of working affect how and where work is done, access to information, an organization’s capacity for work and its efficiency. As important as technological proficiency is, managing the cultural shift required to embrace transformative industry architecture – the key to innovating new business models -- may be the bigger challenge.
Research limitations/implications: Findings are based on original research and case studies. Insights are theoretically, based on additional study, interviews, and research, but need to be tested through additional case studies.
Practical implications: The goal is to make the transition more productive and less traumatic for incumbent firms by providing a language and tested methods to help senior leaders use innovative technologies to build on their core even as they explore new business models.
Social implications: This article provides insights that will lead to more effective ideas for helping organizations adapt.
Originality/value: This article is based on original research and case experience. That research and experience has then been analyzed and viewed through the lens of models that have been known to work. The result is original insights and findings that can be applied in new ways to further adoption within incumbent organizations.

Keywords: open source innovation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention;

Citation:
Winsor, John, Jin Hyun Paik, Michael Tushman, and Karim R. Lakhani. "Overcoming Cultural Resistance to Open Source Innovation." Strategy & Leadership 47, no. 6 (2019): 28–33. View Details

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Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Innovation and Creativity in Times of Crisis

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