Innovation and isomorphism
This week, my column in Expansión, Spain’s leading financial daily, is called “Innovation and isomorphism” (pdf in Spanish), and it’s inspired by the incredible (and indeed dense!) exhibition currently on show in Madrid explaining the work of superchef Ferran Adrià: “Auditing the creative processes”, organized by design and information presentation team Bestiario.
What is the greatest enemy of innovation in a business, or for that matter in life generally? isomorphism, or our tendency to incorporate the characteristics of the surrounding environment. This is the reason why the majority of banks “seem like banks” or the majority of educational institutions end up “seeming like universities.”
Whether it’s caused by pressure from people coming from a particular industry or expecting to find them in the companies they join, or they’re the result of legislation, standards, market expectations, isomorphism strangles innovation, original thought, and the development of the kinds of initiatives that can often give a business a competitive edge. If an organization is serious about incorporating innovation into its culture, making it an intrinsic part of how it does things, then it has to be able to identify, pursue, isolate, and expose any sign or vestige of isomorphism.
Below, the text in full:
Innovation and isomorphism
A visit to the extraordinary exhibition about the work of Ferran Adriá at the historic Telefónica building in central Madrid prompted a few thoughts on what for some time now has become known as the “industrialization of innovation”, a topic that more and more companies are becoming aware of, or at least those that understand the importance of innovation: how to maintain their competitive edge and resist the natural tendency toward organizational inertia.
The number one enemy in this fight is institutional isomorphism: the tendency of all systems to reach equilibrium by adopting the characteristics of their environment. Isomorphism seeps into companies from all corners: the arrival of directors and workers from other companies in the same sector, of the more or less conscious imitation of the strategies pursued by supposed leading businesses, the use of certain tools and standardization demanded by the law… We can talk about normative isomorphism, mimetic, or coercive, but the outcome is always the same: the dynamism and rule-breaking that made a company different in the first place tends to dilute over time, to be replaced by a culture based on stability.
Think about the resources and processes that contribute to innovation in your company, and those that lead to isomorphism. Maintaining an innovative culture means knowing your enemy, which means fighting against isomorphism at every turn. Furthermore, it means making sure that the processes that stimulate innovation are your business’ main characteristics, a core value. And the reward for all this? Beyond measure.
(En español, aquí)
