Every leader wants a culture of innovation. Yet, for most, the process feels like a gamble. You fund promising projects, but the returns are sporadic. You invest in R&D, but the breakthroughs that reach the market are few and far between. This randomness isn’t a sign of creative energy; it’s the symptom of a machine running without a blueprint—an engine without a drive shaft. So how do you get off the innovation rollercoaster and build a true engine for predictable growth?
The Common Mistake/Blind Spot
When confronted with this challenge, many companies turn to management standards like ISO 56001. And that’s where they make a critical mistake. They treat it as a compliance exercise—a checklist to complete for a certificate to hang on the wall. This approach is not just ineffective; it’s incredibly wasteful. Considering that numerous studies, like those often cited by Harvard Business Review, suggest a staggering number of innovation projects fail to meet their commercial objectives, continuing with a disconnected process is a financially irresponsible choice. The certificate is earned, but the “random innovation” problem persists, leaving leaders disillusioned.
The Turning Point
This “checklist” mentality is a profound misunderstanding of the standard’s true purpose. Based on our work across 46 industries, we believe ISO 56001 is not a certificate to get; it is the architectural blueprint for your company’s Innovation Operating System (OS).
This OS is not a piece of software. It’s a holistic management capability that connects your company’s highest-level strategy directly to the projects you fund. In short, it gives your best people a map and a compass instead of just wishing them luck on their journey. It provides the common language and metrics to answer critical questions consistently:
- Which ideas align with our strategic goals?
- How do we evaluate and de-risk opportunities systematically?
- How do we manage our innovation portfolio for both short-term wins and long-term breakthroughs?
Thinking of it as an OS that can be built incrementally transforms it from a daunting project into a series of smart, manageable business decisions.
Stop asking for a certificate. Start demanding a capability. The purpose of a standard isn’t compliance; it’s to provide the blueprint for a competitive advantage.
The Resolution
When you shift from “checking boxes” to “building an engine,” the result is a newfound capacity for predictable growth. This shift has a direct and powerful impact on shareholder value. Why? Because a company with a functioning Innovation OS demonstrates three things investors prize above all else: reduced risk through a systematic process, the potential for predictable revenue growth from a reliable innovation pipeline, and the ability to attract and retain elite talent. They don’t just get lucky; they have a robust system that allows them to innovate at a commanded interval, creating a steady stream of value that customers reward. By installing this “Innovation OS,” you are building the most valuable corporate asset of the 21st century: a permanent, reliable capability to create your own future.
Your Next Move
Building your growth engine is a strategic imperative, not a technical one. You can start incrementally today.
- Reframe the Goal: The objective is not “ISO 56001 certification.” The objective is to build a reliable Innovation OS. This simple change in language has a profound impact on your entire approach.
- Run a System Diagnostic: Before building, you must understand your foundation. An assessment like The BOLD Diagnosis can benchmark your current innovation processes against the ISO 56001 blueprint to identify critical gaps and high-impact starting points.
- Architect a Pilot: Don’t try to build the entire engine at once. Select a single strategic business unit and run a 90-day sprint to architect and test one part of the OS, like the idea validation process. This proves the value of a systematic approach with a concrete, time-bound result.
