In everything we do at TEDxAmsterdam, our partners are very valuable. First of all, they make it possible for us to create a diverse program five times a year (where we can explore the depths of human nature). Secondly, they are a great help in realizing the TEDxAmsterdam Award. And last but not least, the way they work sharing their visions inspires us to think and do differently. That’s why over the next couple of weeks we would like to present to you interviews with these inspirational thinkers. We’re kicking off with Wassili Bertoen from Deloitte Innovation BV.
As Deloitte has been a steady and trustworthy force in consultancy, accountancy and financial advice for many national and international clients, it apparently doesn’t seem necessary to change direction in this fruitful course. Nevertheless, almost five years ago, Deloitte Innovation BV was born. It is a separate entity whose assignment is to dream, realize and to trigger thinking out of the box – for example by installing showers into elevators, to encourage employees to let their ideas flow. Playing with passion and turning dreams into reality seems to be one of the best jobs in the world. Dreaming and triggering those fruitfull ideas is just as crucial as developing ideas into a commercial success, according to Wassili Bertoen, thought leader of Deloitte Innovation BV.
With his background as an organizational psychologist and a tendency to see the sunny side of life, Bertoen is always curious to the change potential of organizations and the people within them: “I worked for many years with Deloitte Consulting where I led a lot of organizations through the transformation of their business. During that time I was involved in a lot of different projects with a focus on innovation because I’m always looking for the upward potential… I’m curious how we can turn challenges into growth opportunities.”
Wassili Bertoen from Deloitte Innovation (photo by Mirjam Verschoor)
Turning ‘lions’ into ‘likes’
Bertoen realized early on that within Deloitte and the corporations of its clients, enough ideas were flowing, but that those great ideas did not often lead to concrete results. Wondering why, he realized that all those individual projects could greatly benefit from a coherent vision and infrastructure. That’s when the idea of Deloitte Innovation BV came into play. Bertoen explains the need to create an innovation department that functions as a separate entity: “We wanted to create circumstances where you can be different. You see, in daily operations the concrete worries of the day are far more urgent than the innovation of tomorrow. It’s not weird that a big client who has issues that needs to be solved this week wins over an innovation process that gets revenue no sooner than next year. If you lose the client today, you don’t have any money to invest for tomorrow. Within the Deloitte Innovation BV people have the right circumstances and support to challenge an idea and commercialize it successfully into the business. Within Deloitte quite a few portfolio teams have developed new mind-blowing services and a large number of clients shook up their sector with new services and business created in Fast Track, Innovation Track or Growth Track sessions.”
The importance of Deloitte Innovation BV, as Bertoen stresses, is offering a safe ecosystem where innovation comes first where you can turn your innovative idea into a successful business. “What happens when somebody comes up with a new idea, that overrules the current boundaries, structure and focus of what you’re doing? People will say no. Why? Because they think it’s scary. And that’s not a weird reaction. Evolution has learned us to be afraid of exceptions, it is in our nature. For example, if you walk around in the savannah and you hear an undefined sound behind a tree, you’ll run because it might be a lion. There are not many people who see an opportunity in a new business idea or trend. Most of them escape to make sure they don’t get eaten.” In offering a safe environment where you can experiment, one can make the turn from (in Bertoens’ words) “yes, but” to “yes, and.”
10% inspiration, 90% transpiration
Now Deloitte Innovation BV is much more than just a safe spot or a playroom. “Innovation is hard work,” says Bertoen. “It’s 10 percent creativity and inspiration, and 90 percent transpiration and relentlessness.” The idea that innovation is something abstract, which is hard to get hold on, Bertoen denies. “For us, innovation is always measurable and always revenue driven. Innovation is not only out of the box thinking, but realizing projects as well.” That’s why Deloitte Innovation BV created three kinds of innovation tracks in which the wild ideas get tamed into concrete and workable business models and results. As Bertoen explains, “For innovation you need the ambition to grow, which is related to strategy and which can be different for every company. There’s not just one right direction for growth. But you always need to extend your imagination and create the right conditions for that growth. And that’s where we step in.”
Innovation never happens alone
Although innovation is mostly about the individual ambitions and wishes of the company, it’s not something that happens in a vacuum. “Innovation,” Bertoen explains, “is always an open process with many parties involved.” That is why Deloitte Innovation BV provides the right kind of environment, or ecosystems as they like to call them. “There’s much more innovation potential in the Netherlands than we are used to nowadays,” claims Bertoen. “We can unleash that potential by linking the right people, corporations, science institutes and startups in innovation processes. Across sectors and Industries. The rate of change has increased dramatically because of the hyperconnected world. Therefore developing new business models and innovations approach the shortest time to market as possible. Great challenges you should solve in a network. That´s why we always connect our partners in our network and connect them to the next big trends.”
Innovation for Deloitte is therefore open innovation. Bertoen emphasizes this openness needs to be understood correctly. “Open innovation doesn’t mean that every step on the way needs to be open. But if you connect a client with partners outside the business and community, we believe you get much better ideas, much better business cases and the time to market is shorter. The thing to do is to create a strong ecosystem around you. The stronger your ecosystem, the stronger you are yourself. Investing in your ecosystem is investing in your own future.”
Wassili in action at the iDiscover workshop. Photo by Bibi Veth
Eat yourself, before somebody else does – Beat the competition or how to innovate the innovators
When I ask Bertoen what he sees as important trends and developments that influence innovation, he laughs, “We could talk the whole afternoon about that!” Then, in barely five minutes, he still manages to give me a whole list. “As first important development,” Bertoen says, “I see internet and the hyperconnected world increasing the rate of change tremendously.” He explains this by making a comparison between the telephone now and 50 years ago: “I think the product life cycle, the time you can make money from a new idea, is getting shorter. Where a telephone 50 years ago lasted maybe 20 years, now it hardly lasts two years. People compare and are now aware of new opportunities within 24 hours around the world. That means the manufacturing company needs to come up with a new product in a shorter amount of time.” If that’s not enough, within the global market, the comptitor can be an unexpected one. “That’s why,” as Bertoen explains, “as a company you certainly need to adapt to those changes in order to keep up and you need a very strong ecosystems around you.”
The most important Innovation drivers at the moment are: Technology, Data and Mobile. “That is where the very basics of your business models changes,” says Bertoen. “The impact of new technology on businesses is tremendous, and adopting it into your own business is fundamental. If you don’t use the latest techniques, your competitor will. Imagine what 3D printing will do. A few years ago those printers where around 40K, nowadays you can buy one for 800K. If you can print your dress of cup at home or in your neighborhood community, what will happen with manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and retailing? The technology is ready, it is just matter of adoption.” According to Bertoen, there are only two choices: “Eat yourself, or let yourself get eaten by others.” That seems quite simple, but according to Bertoen, that is precisely the point that triggers defense mechanisms: “People just find it very hard to believe their ideas or business models just won’t work anymore in the future.”
Open their minds, open their eyes
Deloitte Innovation BV has existed for five years by the end of 2012. What has Bertoen learned along the road? He laughs and tells me: “What has possibly been the most important lesson to me was that innovation always comes when you don’t expect it.” As innovation cannot be planned, there’s not a straight road that leads to it. Bertoen explains, “You can walk in the right direction, you can mobilize your ecosystem so you get new inspiration and you know where to look for [it], but in the end, you have to recognize the opportunity when it comes along. The most important thing of an innovation process is to create the environment in which people are able open up their minds, so they start to think different and dare to act different. Open up and recognize a world of opportunities.”
“That’s why we participate in TEDxAmsterdam: open innovation with promising partners and great ideas in order to invest in our ecosystem and to discover new opportunities and start-ups. In this way, we are spot on with the innovators of the future and we can help to co-create the right conditions and release the innovative power within the Netherlands.”
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