If corporate innovation can sometimes feel like a game, it’s one set to hard mode. Success requires relationship-building, resource-gathering, and constant learning to make it past the traps and pitfalls you’ll inevitably encounter.
This large-format discussion guide tries to lay out all of those obstacles — like the bureaucracy trap — in a fun way, and highlight some of the ways you can get from square one to the summit. What’s at the summit? You and your team have succeeded in making innovation an enduring part of the company’s culture and DNA — simply the way people work day to day.
This new installment of our “Innovation Illustrated” series was a collaboration with two great visual storytelling firms: XPLANATIONS and Zense. As we created it, we relied on conversations with a handful of veteran corporate innovators, as well as recent InnoLead survey data.
Thanks to everyone who provided input as we developed this illustration, and to the sponsors of this research initiative: HYPE Innovation. This graphic was created as part of our 2025 research initiative, Making Innovation an Enduring Capability.
InnoLead members can download and print the high-resolution illustration below.
Download and print the map to share with your team, in high or low resolution.
