In a wide-ranging interview, award-winning executive and fintech expert Richard Turrin spoke with Efma's Boris Plantier about the state of innovation in China and how the government there has been truly forward-looking in its technology promotion.
We hear a lot about the success of big tech companies in terms of innovation. What is their secret sauce? Do they innovate differently than the rest of the world?
Yes, they do innovate differently. I wouldn't call it a "secret sauce" but would say they are "cut from a different cloth." Big tech companies have innovation built into their DNA. They are continuously innovating because that is what they've done from the moment they launched. They have their entire culture and management structure built around innovation, so it comes naturally to them.
Compare that to a bank, where innovation was never part of the culture. What bank manager ever had innovation built into their KPIs until very recently? This is why you see so many in the financial services space looking to big tech to copy their approach to innovation. They are belatedly trying to integrate innovation into their institutions and find it very challenging. This is an issue I deal with in my book “Innovation Lab Excellence.” I say that “innovation can’t be bolted on to an existing non-digital company like training wheels on a child’s bicycle.” Instead, it needs to be instilled in the culture or DNA of the institution. It is a considerable transformation and one that is tremendously difficult because it is so expansive.
We hear a lot about the success of big tech companies in terms of innovation. What is their secret sauce? Do they innovate differently than the rest of the world?
Yes, they do innovate differently. I wouldn't call it a "secret sauce" but would say they are "cut from a different cloth." Big tech companies have innovation built into their DNA. They are continuously innovating because that is what they've done from the moment they launched. They have their entire culture and management structure built around innovation, so it comes naturally to them.
Compare that to a bank, where innovation was never part of the culture. What bank manager ever had innovation built into their KPIs until very recently? This is why you see so many in the financial services space looking to big tech to copy their approach to innovation. They are belatedly trying to integrate innovation into their institutions and find it very challenging. This is an issue I deal with in my book “Innovation Lab Excellence.” I say that “innovation can’t be bolted on to an existing non-digital company like training wheels on a child’s bicycle.” Instead, it needs to be instilled in the culture or DNA of the institution. It is a considerable transformation and one that is tremendously difficult because it is so expansive.
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