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Oct 21 2026
What does it take to innovate again and again?
Overview
Harvard Business Review’s Topic Deep Dive, “HBR on Innovation,” examines what organisations need to innovate repeatedly rather than depend on occasional breakthroughs. Its collection of articles, podcasts and videos explains that successful innovation requires more than a promising idea; leaders must create conditions that support experimentation, collaboration, focused decision-making and meaningful growth.
The featured resources explore disciplined experimentation, innovation incentives, the limitations of generative artificial intelligence, organisational silos and constraint-driven strategy. The collection also highlights the role of leadership in building environments where ideas can be tested, improved, implemented and scaled.
Details
Collection Information
Collection: HBR on Innovation
Series: Topic Deep Dive
Publication: Harvard Business Review
Primary subject: Building the leadership practices and organisational conditions required for continuous innovation.
Resource formats: Research articles, practical case studies, reading lists, podcasts, videos and virtual events.
Core message: Innovation is an ongoing leadership discipline requiring experimentation, collaboration, strategic direction and effective implementation.
Disciplined Experimentation
Featured article: How One Company Used Disciplined Chaos to Drive Innovation
Organisation examined: OCP
Experimentation: The case examines how employees were given sufficient space to test ideas and develop new ventures.
Strategic guardrails: Clear organisational boundaries helped keep experimental work connected to wider business priorities.
Management lesson: Organisations can encourage creative freedom without allowing innovation activity to lose strategic focus.
Incentives and Innovative Ideas
Featured article: Why Cash Rewards Don’t Always Produce Better Ideas
Research focus: The article examines how financial incentives affect the generation and character of innovative ideas.
Recipient differences: The effect of a financial reward may vary depending on who receives it and the role that person performs in the innovation process.
Type of innovation: Incentives may encourage particular forms of innovation without necessarily improving every kind of creative output.
Leadership implication: Reward systems should be designed according to the behaviours and innovation outcomes an organisation actually wants to encourage.
Artificial Intelligence and Innovation
Featured research: The Innovation Problems AI Can’t Solve
AI contribution: Generative AI can accelerate research, idea generation, content development and parts of the innovation process.
Bias risk: AI-generated outputs may reproduce or strengthen assumptions and biases contained in existing information.
Narrow thinking: Excessive dependence on AI may limit the variety of ideas considered rather than expand genuinely original thinking.
Customer distance: Relying too heavily on AI-generated insights can separate innovation teams from direct engagement with customers and their lived experiences.
Balanced application: Organisations should use AI to support innovation while preserving human curiosity, critical thinking and direct customer understanding.
Organisational Silos
Featured article: When Silos Hinder Innovation—and When They Can Help
Conventional assumption: Organisational silos are frequently viewed as barriers to communication, collaboration and innovation.
Alternative perspective: Removing every boundary between teams is not always the most effective way to encourage innovation.
Problem-specific structure: The appropriate level of separation or collaboration depends on the nature of the problem being addressed.
Design principle: Leaders should create structures that combine specialist depth with sufficient cross-functional interaction for the innovation task.
Additional Reading
Resource: HBR Reading List on Innovation
Coverage: The reading list brings together HBR’s essential thinking on breakthrough products, new business models and organisational growth.
Purpose: The collection enables readers to explore innovation strategy and implementation in greater depth.
Innovation Podcasts
Podcast: The Innovation Strategy Most Companies Miss
Featured experts: Vijay Govindarajan and Amos Winter
Constraint-driven strategy: The discussion explains how designing for demanding constraints can reveal opportunities capable of scaling across markets.
Podcast: How Leaders Create the Conditions for Innovative Thinking
Featured expert: Linda Hill
Leadership perspective: Innovation depends less on individual genius and more on creating conditions that support collaboration, experimentation and effective collective decisions.
Video Resource
Video: Walls and Moats Won’t Save You. Innovation Will.
Featured speaker: Scott D. Anthony
Competitive advantage: Organisations cannot depend indefinitely on established market positions, assets or barriers to protect them from disruption.
Strategic response: Continued innovation is presented as a more durable response to changing technologies, markets and competitors.
HBR Innovation Summit 2026
Event: HBR Innovation Summit 2026
Dates: 12–13 November 2026
Format: Virtual event
Programme: The summit will feature chief-executive conversations, expert-led masterclasses and practical innovation strategies.
HBR Executive access: HBR Executive membership includes registration for both summit days and access to the Innovation Forum.
Additional HBR Event
Event: HBR Virtual Roundtable: How to Prepare for AI-Powered Cyber Threats
Date: 28 October 2026
Access: Subscriber-only virtual event
Discussion focus: The roundtable will examine what AI is changing in cybersecurity and how organisations can improve their resilience against attacks.
Further information: Readers may access the featured articles, podcasts, videos, reading list and event-registration pages through the links provided in the original HBR communication.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this News Bulletin is for informational purposes only. The Learning Centre does not facilitate or provide recordings, additional data, access, or any other related information concerning the events/resources listed.
