The first part of preserving and amplifying a culture of innovation comes down to understanding where innovation comes from. We do this at Versuni by fostering what I call “frontline obsession”, which is the practice of obsessively focusing on understanding our consumers’ unmet needs and pain points. Taking the time to find these enables you to translate them into products that will resonate with consumers.

Having uncovered these consumer needs, prioritization of innovative projects becomes incredibly important. I like to say that successful innovation comes from focus. I call it: Fewer, Bigger, Better. Choosing fewer things to pursue but aiming for bigger results and committing to executing with better outcomes. We apply this to how we choose where and what to innovate, but also how we run the business.

Good project selection requires a granular understanding of your market, your company and most importantly your consumer. All of this takes effort. When I joined Versuni in March 2024, I spent the first three months travelling the world to go deep into all the markets that we operate in – I visited more than a dozen countries and interacted with more than 2,000 of our stakeholders, both within the business and outside. Building this kind of deep understanding of your markets allows you to focus on the categories and insights that matter most.

Innovation can happen along many different vectors. It can mean creating entirely new categories – as we did with the Airfryer – or it can mean innovating within existing ones, such as the development of the Baristina within the coffee machine category.

Of course, when you manage to successfully create a new category, it opens a new avenue for future innovations to fuel growth. You can continue to incrementally innovate on top of it, consistently raising the bar in terms of quality, functionality and convenience for consumers.

Picking the right opportunities is not just about selecting the categories that are the most attractive, however, it’s also about playing to your strengths. You need to choose to compete in areas where you have a high ability to lead and win.

If you understand the inherent attractiveness of the market, and understand your own strengths, it allows you to define your winning strategy very clearly. You understand what your top-selling products are, you understand how to drive growth, and you understand what is needed to make sure they are supported by the right distribution and marketing activations so that consumers can get their hands on them.

When you pick the right opportunities, and pursue them in the right way, a focused approach has a compounding effect, because all resources are unified in driving toward the same goal. Everyone’s time, innovation span, marketing efforts and strategic insights are coalesced on the same outcome. It simplifies everything and drives improvements in the business’s top and bottom line. It also ensures that the consumer gets the best possible product and experience.

I like to say that running an innovative organization relies on a combination of magic and logic. Of course, you need to be logical and disciplined in how you structure the business and make decisions, but logic should make up 90% of leadership’s thinking. The remaining 10% should be dedicated to “magic”, which is how I refer to the innovation and creativity needed to try new things and break through boundaries in search of something better.

Innovation is in its nature unpredictable and challenging, so mistakes and failures are inevitable. Obviously, nobody wants to fail, and mistakes must not be repeated, but people also need to feel empowered and safe to try and push the boundaries in areas where success is not guaranteed.

The way to strike this balance is to be hard on facts, but soft on people. Rigorously interrogate why things haven’t worked so you can test, learn and improve for the future, but make sure that people know that you trust them and care for them. This allows the organisation to change and grow, while maintaining high levels of trust and performance among its people.

Once you have succeeded in creating an innovative culture, the work never stops. The urge to seek comfort is strong, and ever-present. Maintaining innovation requires constant effort and vigilance, but it is the only way to win in the long term.

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