Why do organizations say innovation is mission-critical, then create conditions that make innovation almost impossible?

Fiona Stevenson has spent her career on both sides of that problem.

After 12 years at Procter & Gamble, she co-founded The Idea Suite, an innovation consultancy that has worked across hundreds of innovation projects. She is also the co-author of Built for Breakthrough: Why Innovation Fails and How Smart Leaders Get It Right.

In this conversation, Fiona joins Marc and Vassilis to unpack why innovation usually fails long before the idea itself is tested.

They explore the famous Febreze story and why understanding the actual consumer problem changed the brand’s trajectory, before getting into the organizational conditions required for innovation to survive.

Fiona explains why big innovation ambitions often collide with tiny budgets, part-time teams and unrealistic timelines; why past data can become dangerous when designing for the future; and why innovators need to build evidence instead of waiting for certainty.

The conversation also covers Fiona’s six-stage innovation framework:

Identify → Insights → Inspiration → Ideation → Iteration → Implementation

And perhaps a seventh: Intuition.

Plus:

Why “we should…” is not an idea

Why “How might we?” is such a powerful innovation question

How AI is dramatically lowering the cost of prototyping

Why AI should be an input, not the final output

How implementation destroys good ideas through “death by a thousand cuts”

Why innovation needs dedicated time, not calendar scraps

How to create an innovation charter

Why the best first step is simply defining the problem properly

If your organization wants innovation but struggles to actually get ideas into market, this episode is for you.

Enjoy the show!

Chapters:

00:00 Why Innovation Dies Before the Whiteboard

01:36 Meet Fiona Stevenson

02:16 From P&G to Innovation Consulting

04:07 Moving From Client Side to Consulting

05:41 The Febreze Innovation Story

09:09 Why Consumer Understanding Comes First

10:59 What Is Innovation, Really?

13:02 The Uber Opportunity Fiona Turned Down

14:24 Different Types of Innovation

16:23 Big Innovation Ambitions vs. Organizational Reality

17:44 Why Stakeholder Alignment Matters

20:16 The Innovation Charter

21:24 Fear and the Unknown

22:00 Why Past Data Can Mislead Innovation

23:48 Why Great Marketers Can Struggle With Innovation

25:29 Getting Innovation Out the Door

27:24 The Future Has No Data

28:04 Challenging Assumptions With First Principles

30:00 AI as a Tool for Building Evidence

32:00 AI, Prototyping and Creative Potential

32:51 AI Should Be an Input, Not the Output

34:15 “We Should” Is Not an Idea

36:03 Why “How Might We?” Changes the Conversation

37:39 Fiona’s Six I’s of Innovation

39:09 Insights, Inspiration & Ideation

40:28 Why Iteration Matters

41:53 Implementation and Death by a Thousand Cuts

42:18 Protecting the Idea’s DNA

42:45 Is Intuition the Seventh I?

45:05 Why Skipping Steps Kills Innovation

47:06 The Most Undervalued Stage

48:49 How Innovation Survives Budget Pressure

50:17 Why Innovation Can’t Be a Side Job

51:39 What to Do Monday Morning

53:48 Why Innovation Needs Champions

54:26 It’s Never Too Late to Redefine the Problem

55:41 Built for Breakthrough Resources

56:11 Where to Find Fiona

Link to the book:

Built for Breakthrough - https://www.builtforbreakthrough.com/