Igniting Innovation: How We Turned Risk into Reward At Coaching Focus Group, we don't just talk about innovation. We live it. We breathe it. And most importantly, we create space for it. How? We built a culture where it's safe to take smart risks. Where "What if..." is celebrated. Where "That didn't work" is met with curiosity, not criticism. One way we encourage this? Quarterly Innovation Sprints. People gather to tackle a challenge or explore a wild idea. No boundaries. No red tape. Just bold thinking and brave action. It was during one of these sprints that we reimagined our client onboarding experience. Someone threw out a risky idea -- "What if we scrapped the traditional welcome pack and built a digital coaching hub instead?" It was a leap. It meant new tech, new content, new investment. But we backed it. We built it. And guess what? It worked. Clients now land in a vibrant, interactive space from day one. It's personal. It's intuitive. It's packed with resources that boost engagement and speed up success. Feedback? Glowing. Retention? Up. Impact? Off the charts. This win didn't come from playing it safe. It came from backing our people to explore. To experiment. To fail fast -- and grow even faster. The lesson? Innovation thrives when leaders feel trusted. So we create that trust. We cheer the brave. We reward the curious. And we know that the best ideas often start with a question no one's dared to ask -- yet. Because when you fuel courage, you unlock breakthroughs. And that's how transformation begins.
When it comes to encouraging innovation on our leadership team, here's something I've learned: people don't need more brainstorming sessions. They need permission to be wrong without embarrassment. That's the bottleneck. It's not the ideas--they're there. It's that most people, especially high performers, are terrified of shipping something that flops and having to own it publicly. So one thing I actively do is publicly "own" my own failed bets, especially the ones that were weird or risky from the start. I'll say, "Yeah, I pushed for that marketing angle and it tanked. My bad. Learned a lot." When you model that kind of detachment from ego, it creates space for everyone else to bring out their weird, unproven ideas too. And here's the part where it paid off: One of my team leads pitched the idea of bypassing traditional SEO backlink agencies and handling our backlink outreach in-house. That sounds small, but it was a ton of work--researching domains, building a manual outreach process, even rewriting pitches daily to sound more human. It would've been easier to just throw cash at a vendor. But the results? Our DR started rising. And even more valuable: our outreach team developed this sharp instinct for what kinds of pitches actually resonate with journalists and editors. We wouldn't have gotten there if the instinct had been to play it safe and outsource everything. Bottom line: innovation doesn't come from trying to be original. It comes from making it emotionally safe to be wrong in public, then letting smart people follow their instincts all the way through.
When you're building more than just structures but a legacy of possibility, innovation can't be optional. It has to be part of your team's DNA. At NinthGen, I've always believed that leadership isn't about giving answers, it's about creating the environment where your team feels empowered to go find them, even when they don't seem to exist. Working in architecture and design-build in Los Angeles means navigating a maze of city codes, regulations, and bureaucracy. These systems weren't designed for innovation, but that's exactly why we have to lead with it. One project that comes to mind involved a high-profile residential build in the Hollywood Hills. The client wanted an open-concept glass structure that seemingly defied zoning restrictions. Instead of walking away or giving a templated "no," I challenged our team to rethink the code itself. We found a sub-section in the municipal planning code--buried in obscure footnotes--that even city plancheckers were unfamiliar with. That discovery allowed us to move forward, not only getting the design approved but also setting a precedent for future projects. It wasn't luck- it was culture. I've spent years building a leadership team that isn't afraid to question the "impossible." We blend creative thinking with meticulous code research and back it up with a willingness to go all in. That kind of innovation doesn't happen unless your people feel trusted to take risks, even when the outcome is uncertain. Deadlines That Don't Break Us Another example was a commercial project that came in with an aggressive timeline. We had just 45 days to complete what typically takes 90. Most companies would've passed. Instead, I gathered the team and asked a simple question: What would it take to pull this off, not in theory, but in reality? I didn't delegate, I collaborated. I was in the room for late-night design reviews, code checks, and engineering huddles. That level of involvement isn't about micromanaging, it's about showing your team that their effort is matched by leadership's commitment. We delivered the project. Two days before the deadline. What I've learned is that innovation thrives when people feel safe to try big things without the fear of failing in front of their boss. Because at the end of the day, innovation isn't just about the buildings we create - it's about the team we build to make them possible.
Creating a space where leaders feel psychologically safe to take risks is key. Innovation isn't just about generating ideas--it's about removing the invisible friction that stops those ideas from surfacing. At Edstellar, leadership discussions often start with a question: "What are we not doing because it feels too uncertain?" That one prompt has unlocked more strategic thinking than any formal framework. One such moment led to the birth of Stellar AI. A team member floated the idea of using AI to solve one of the most complex challenges in enterprise training: matching the right trainer to the right team at the right time. It was ambitious, untested, and exactly the kind of idea that could have been dismissed in a more risk-averse environment. Today, Stellar AI is a cornerstone of how training is delivered. That outcome was a direct result of backing intuition with trust--even when there wasn't a guaranteed outcome.
At Fulfill.com, I believe innovation thrives when leadership teams feel genuinely empowered to take calculated risks. I've cultivated this environment by implementing what I call our "test and learn" framework - where team members can propose bold ideas with clear hypotheses, measurable outcomes, and reasonable resource requirements. Innovation isn't just encouraged here; it's expected. Each quarter, our leadership team dedicates time specifically for exploring disruptive solutions to industry problems. Having been in the 3PL and eCommerce space for over a decade, I've seen firsthand how stagnation can kill even established businesses. A perfect example was when our product team proposed a controversial approach to our marketplace matching algorithm. Traditional 3PL marketplaces use basic filtering, but our team wanted to build a proprietary "compatibility index" that required significant investment and engineering resources. The conventional wisdom said it wouldn't provide enough ROI to justify the development costs. Rather than shutting it down, we created a small tiger team to develop a minimal viable product and test it with a subset of users. The results were stunning - our match satisfaction scores increased by 37%, and conversion rates nearly doubled. We were connecting brands with fulfillment partners that they would have overlooked using traditional matching methods. What made this successful wasn't just the technology – it was creating space for calculated risk-taking. We established clear parameters: a 90-day timeline, defined success metrics, and regular checkpoints. This approach balanced innovation with accountability. Having bootstrapped multiple companies before Fulfill.com, including ShipDaddy which grew to operating a 140,000 square foot warehouse, I've learned that entrepreneurial thinking must be embedded throughout the organization. Our best innovations don't come from the top down – they emerge when we trust our teams to identify problems they're passionate about solving. The 3PL industry is ripe for transformation, and building a culture where leadership isn't afraid to challenge conventions has been our competitive advantage. We fail sometimes too – but we learn fast and apply those lessons to our next innovation cycle.
I encourage innovation and risk-taking by creating an environment where my leadership team feels trusted to think differently and take action without fear of failure. I actually gave a TEDx talk titled, 'I want you to fail'! I believe real growth happens when people are empowered to experiment, learn, and adjust. One example was when I challenged my team to rethink how we approached client engagement. Instead of sticking to what was familiar, we piloted a new strategy that blended digital outreach with more personalized leadership coaching sessions. It was a risk, but it opened new opportunities for deeper client relationships and significantly expanded our impact. Innovation moves faster when people know you believe in their ideas.
One of the biggest leaps we took recently was building a hiring tool that extracts live job information from platforms that don't offer official APIs. From day one, I flagged the risk: if that UI changed, our tool could break overnight. But leadership didn't flinch. They didn't ask us to play it safe--they asked us to plan boldly and build responsibly. We prototyped with backup strategies, including manual triggers and alternate input paths. And when a major layout shift actually happened (which would have crashed our original pipeline), we were able to switch gears within hours because we had that flexibility built in. That one success gave our team the confidence to take smarter risks, not reckless ones. And it reinforced a culture of preemptive thinking, where innovation doesn't wait for permission, but it does stay accountable.
Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum--it needs a culture where leaders feel psychologically safe to question, experiment, and occasionally fail. At Invensis Technologies, risk-taking isn't treated as a gamble but as a disciplined practice. The leadership team is encouraged to view challenges through the lens of possibility, not constraint. It's less about asking for permission and more about owning the outcome--with the understanding that bold thinking is expected at every level. A few years ago, a senior leader proposed embedding AI into a legacy BPO system--an idea that went against traditional practices and risked disrupting client workflows. Rather than shutting it down, the concept was stress-tested, supported, and implemented in phases. The result: a 30% gain in process efficiency and a noticeable lift in client satisfaction. But more importantly, it shifted the internal mindset. Leaders stopped playing it safe and started asking, "What's the smarter way to do this?" That shift continues to drive transformation across the organization.
What I really think is innovation only happens when people feel safe enough to take a shot that might not work. At Blushush, I encourage risk-taking by making it clear that experiments are expected, not just accepted. We treat every new idea as a test, not a verdict. That removes pressure and gives the team space to think freely. One example was when a team member suggested we replace our traditional case study PDFs with live Notion dashboards clients could interact with. It was unconventional, and honestly, I was skeptical at first. But we tested it on one client project--and not only did it land better, it sparked two inbound leads just from the way it was shared internally. The outcome? We adopted it across our process. The lesson? Innovation happens when leadership stops guarding old playbooks and starts rewarding new ones. Let your team try, and they will surprise you.
At Tecknotrove, encouraging innovation and risk-taking starts with creating a culture where failure is seen as a step forward, not a setback. I believe in giving our leadership team the freedom to explore bold ideas without the fear of immediate judgment. This means fostering open dialogues, rewarding initiative, and ensuring everyone knows that calculated risks are not just accepted--they're expected. A powerful example of this was when we explored using Virtual Reality (VR) to enhance traditional training simulators. At the time, this was uncharted territory for us, and there were concerns about feasibility, integration, and ROI. But we gave the green light to a small cross-functional team to prototype the idea. Not only did the pilot succeed, but it also opened doors to new markets--including aviation and emergency response--where immersive training experiences are now a game changer. By trusting the team and supporting their vision, we didn't just innovate--we evolved. That experience reinforced my belief that when leaders feel empowered to take smart risks, they drive transformation.
We encourage innovation by making it clear that every idea is worth bringing to the table. Within the leadership team, we try to keep the conversation open and honest, so no one feels like they have to hold back. A good example was when someone suggested trying virtual consultations. It wasn't something we had done before, but we gave it a go. It ended up making a real difference, helping customers feel more confident and speeding up the buying process. It reminded us that taking a chance on a simple idea can lead to something great.
Fostering a culture of innovation and risk-taking often starts with leading by example. For instance, I encourage my leadership team to dedicate time each week to brainstorming and exploring new ideas without the fear of immediate rejection or critique. This openness was clearly illustrated when we decided to pivot our approach to a product launch, incorporating more sustainable materials even though it was initially more costly. By focusing not just on short-term gains but also on potential revolutionary shifts in the market, we were able to position our company as a leader in sustainability, which opened up new market segments to us. Another strategy is to celebrate failures as learning opportunities, not just successes. A memorable instance occurred when a risky project failed to meet its initial objectives, but the team’s innovative approach led to the discovery of a more efficient process that significantly reduced our operational cost in another area of the business. This not only salvaged the project but also reinforced the value of taking risks and thinking outside the box. Ultimately, these experiences prove that creating an environment where leaders feel safe to experiment and innovate can lead to surprising and rewarding outcomes.
One instance where this approach led to a successful outcome was when we were faced with a challenging market situation. The housing market was experiencing a slowdown, and sales were not picking up as expected. Many of my team members were feeling discouraged and hesitant to try new strategies. However, instead of playing it safe, I decided to take a bold step and introduce a unique marketing campaign targeting first-time homebuyers. It involved using social media platforms, creating eye-catching visuals, and partnering with local influencers to spread the word. The campaign was a huge success, and we saw a significant increase in sales within just a few weeks. This experience taught me the importance of taking risks and thinking outside the box in order to stay ahead in an ever-changing industry.