Innovation: A Board Imperative

August 24, 2017  Published by Lorrie Norrington

Lorrie Norrington has over 35 years of operating experience in technology, software, and Internet businesses. Norrington is currently an Operating Partner at Lead Edge Capital, and serves on the boards of Autodesk, Colgate-Palmolive Co., HubSpot, BigCommerce, and Eventbrite. She lives in Silicon Valley. This blog is part of the 2017 NACD Global Board Leaders’ Summit series.

A company’s board sets the tone from the top and oversees long-term strategy. However, now more than ever, boards also must actively work to understand technology trends and encourage a culture of innovation that drives long-term growth. The development of an innovation mindset has become an imperative for directors.

The pace of technological change is forcing governance needs to evolve faster than anticipated. As a result, the inability to innovate has become one of the biggest business risks in most enterprise risk management assessments. It is useful to understand that both evolutionary innovation (or the combination of small ideas into bigger change) and discontinuous innovation (which is disruptive to companies and industries) can render companies uncompetitive in months and years—not decades.

Below are some of the techniques I’ve used over the past decade as a director to keep current on my knowledge and help boards embrace technology and innovation.........

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