A survey of 585 business executives conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services found that innovation leaders are much more likely to focus on customers, business models, breakthrough technologies, and speed.

Some 76% of these leaders—the 37% of respondents who assert that innovation is a high priority for their organizations—expect to accelerate the speed of innovation over the next 12 months, compared to 63% of all respondents.

The survey reveals that sustained innovation revolves around three core areas: culture, process, and technology. The findings highlight the importance of having an ideas-driven culture that helps democratize innovation by opening it up enterprise wide, especially to those employees close to the customer. In terms of process, innovation leaders favor agility and experimentation. Leaders approach technology as both a driver and an enabler to maximize impact for their customers. By contrast, followers tend to be motivated by profitability, competition, and regulations.

This report will describe how innovation leaders become capable at meeting—and exceeding—their customers’ expectations. It will show how they accomplish this while being constantly disrupted by advancing technologies, new business models, or unforeseen events, such as the pandemic. Indeed, 92% of innovation leaders expect to emerge stronger from the disruptions of 2020 thanks to their innovation strategies, compared to 62% of innovation followers.