Standing at the threshold of this moment, the celebration of Innovation360’s 10-year anniversary, I find myself overwhelmed by gratitude, awe, and a touch of nostalgia. It feels surreal to realize how fast a decade has flown by, filled with exhilarating highs, challenging lows, courageous experiments, and profound insights. Looking back at all we’ve accomplished, learned, and built together brings a sense of humility and deep pride.
When I started Innovation360 ten years ago, it was born out of curiosity and passion. Back then, innovation management was misunderstood and often overlooked. Even early on, colleagues would challenge me, asking with raised eyebrows, “Magnus, what exactly is innovation management anyway?” Others confused it with invention or high-tech wizardry. My mission was clear from day one: to introduce, demystify, and champion innovation management as a structured and disciplined practice for organizations worldwide.
Today, seeing innovation management recognized widely, watching it rise on global strategic agendas, and witnessing how we’ve contributed to this evolution amaze me beyond words. Over the past decade, we have measured and benchmarked more than 10,000 organizations, compiled millions of valuable data points, and collaborated across 105 countries. And along the way, I’ve discovered powerful insights, both deeply human and profoundly transformative, which I lovingly call lessons in innovation.
I want to share these deeply personal reflections with you, from the perspective of not just a CEO or entrepreneur, but sincerely from the heart—as a humanist, innovator, and relentless learner.
Lesson #1 in Innovation: Real Innovation Isn’t About Technology—It’s About People
I quickly realized innovation isn’t just a buzzword for cool gadgets or trendy technology. It’s rooted firmly in the hearts, minds, creativity, vulnerability, and courage of human beings working together toward a better future. Innovation means questioning our assumptions, experimenting bravely, failing intentionally, learning continually, and growing meaningfully. It is the ultimate human endeavor, built on empathy, collaboration, and authenticity.
Lesson #2 in Innovation: Visionary Commitment Always Outshines Short-Term Gains
Innovation thrives not merely on cleverness or budgets but on clarity of purpose and unwavering long-term commitment. Moderate innovators jump quickly from trend to trend. True leaders envision a future of significant impact and dedicate themselves consistently, even when the road is bumpy. Organizations I’ve seen excelling in innovation all share a clear vision backed by unwavering courage and heartfelt dedication.
Lesson #3 in Innovation: Fail Faster, Better, and Often—That’s How You Truly Succeed
Innovation demands courage not only to try but also to stumble. Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of stumbles! Every experiment, even if unsuccessful, leads closer to discovery and wisdom. It took courage to embrace that openly as a guiding principle. Today, failure isn’t something I fear—it’s something I respect. The more we experiment and learn from failures, the closer we come toward innovation excellence.
Lesson #4 in Innovation: True Strength Comes Through Radical Honesty
Early on, I realized the powerful role radical transparency plays in innovation management. To innovate successfully, we must confront uncomfortable truths outright. On numerous occasions, I found myself in rooms of executives unwilling to face critical self-assessment transparently. Those leaders stagnated. But the bravest teams, who dared to honestly assess their innovation capabilities—even when nerve-wracking—made remarkable breakthroughs.
Lesson #5 in Innovation: Prepare for the Unexpected—Always
In these ten years, we’ve seen political earthquakes, pandemics, technological leaps, and profound societal shifts virtually overnight. Scenario planning isn’t just helpful—it’s vital. Anticipating uncertainties with clear understanding makes teams flexible, resilient, and able to surf crises instead of drowning. Innovation is exactly about navigating uncharted waters skillfully and confidently.
Lesson #6 in Innovation: Humility Changes Everything
As CEO, openly admitting “I don’t know” once felt daunting. Yet, over the years, I’ve discovered unexpected magic in humility. Embracing genuine vulnerability liberates creativity, stimulates openness, and fosters authentic dialogue. Humility has taught me more than confidence ever could. Innovation deeply thrives in environments unafraid to say: “We don’t know everything. Let’s learn.”
Lesson #7 in Innovation: Innovation Starts With a Childlike Curiosity
Innovation demands constant curiosity, like the insatiable interest children have in understanding the world around them. Curiosity promotes deep questioning, inspires inventions, leads to unexpected pathways, and sparks courageous explorations. Observing my own children taught me the invaluable role playful curiosity has in driving authentic innovation.
Lesson #8 in Innovation: Humans Lead Innovation—Machines Just Accelerate
From day one at Innovation360, we’ve leveraged AI for acceleration. However, I understood early that human creativity, imagination, and vision shape the future—never algorithms or machines. Innovation remains a beautifully human-centric endeavor, utilizing cutting-edge technology without relinquishing responsibility or agency. AI accelerates possibility—but passion, empathy, and imagination always originate from human hearts and minds.
Lesson #9 in Innovation: Reject Superficial Shortcuts—Say Goodbye to TL;DR
Our era constantly seeks shortcuts—and often shuns deeper inquiry or critical understanding with a superficial “Too Long; Didn’t Read.” I call for boldly rejecting shallow-thinking loops. Innovation cannot flourish with over-simplified perspectives. Courageously claim the right to depth and complexity—foster cultures of engaged critical thought responsible for genuine breakthroughs.
Lesson #10 in Innovation: Culture is Everything
Nothing has profoundly shaped innovation successes more than organizational culture. Culture drives innovation—not policies, size, or budgets. Real cultures of trust, compassion, diversity, inclusive dialogue, and creativity have amazed me repeatedly by unlocking the impossible in teams of all sizes, budgets, and industries. Culture is the hidden power behind all meaningful innovation—and must never be underestimated.
Final Thoughts—My Gratitude to You
Looking back, I’m brimming with gratitude: towards my family for supporting late nights and global travels, our inspiring Innovation360 team tirelessly living our mission, certified practitioners around the world embracing and amplifying our methodology in 45 amazing countries, treasured Gold Partners, educational institutions enriching innovation understanding globally, and each client trusting us to innovate and explore together.
You, each and every one of you—employees, partners, peers, and friends—have made these ten extraordinary years possible. I deeply thank you, from the very bottom of my heart. You inspire me daily to continue innovating, learning, growing, and exploring what’s next.
Here’s to the next exciting decade ahead—ten more transformative years of humanness, empathy, courageous experimentation, curiosity, exploration, and, of course, powerful innovation.
Together, let’s go boldly forward. The journey toward even greater lessons in innovation has only begun.
With sincere gratitude
