Innovation Culture in IT

The best teams I've worked with had 1 thing in common. (Hint: It's not what you think.) ❌ It wasn't talent.  ❌ It wasn't funding.  ❌ It wasn't even product-market fit. It was a culture that turned ordinary people into extraordinary performers. Most leaders treat culture like dessert - nice to have after the "real work." But culture IS the real work. Think of it as a flywheel: Purpose creates direction → Processes create clarity → People create momentum. Break one link?  Everything stops. Quick diagnostic - which zone is your team in? 🔴 Lost and exhausted (low energy, low clarity)  🟠 Organized chaos (high energy, low clarity) 🟡 Perfect plans, zero action (high clarity, low energy) 🟢 Unstoppable force (high clarity, high energy) Most teams are stuck in red or orange. Why? Because of the #1 culture killer...  Fear. Teams are afraid when: Speaking up became dangerous. Challenging ideas feels risky. "Keeping the peace" kills progress. The fix: Leaders go first. ✅ Admit mistakes publicly. ✅ Make dissent normal. ✅ Reward bad news. Values without behaviors are just expensive wall art. "Innovation" while punishing failure? Empty. "Move fast" with five approvals? Please. Convert values into observable behaviors. Then actually live them. Hard truth: B-players don't just underperform. They lower the bar for everyone. A-players work with A-players or they leave. You can't build excellence with mediocrity. So, make feedback flow like water. ✅ Daily. ✅ Specific.  ✅ Immediate. ❌ Not annual.  ❌ Not vague.  ❌ Not later. Build rituals that compound: ✅ Daily standups that unblock. ✅ Weekly wins that energize. ✅ Recognition that connects. ✅ Retrospectives that improve. These aren't meetings.  They're culture builders. Remember: ❌ Good cultures happen by accident. ✅ Great cultures are built on purpose. It's up to you to make the difference. So, while competitors talk culture, you have to build it. And when they hope for engagement, you have to engineer it. Culture isn't soft stuff. It's the only advantage that can't be copied. Start with one element today. Your future team depends on it. P.S. Want a PDF of my High-Performance Culture Cheat Sheet? Get it free: https://ibit.ly/bEiFB ♻️ Repost to help a CEO in your network. Follow Eric Partaker for more culture insights.

While Western governments argue over industrial policy, China is quietly building the innovation engine of the clean-energy future. China now files three times more clean tech patents than the rest of the world combined. And it's not slowing down. China is surging towards 300,000 patent applications per year, while the US and EU have stagnated and fallen behind. It's also not just solar and batteries. China leads across the board: EVs, heat pumps and inverters as well as all the power electronics to make it work. China has become the global centre of gravity for clean energy innovation. How did this happen? A few factors stand out: ➡️ Decades of consistent industrial strategy with clear 5 and 10-year targets ➡️ Innovation tightly coupled with manufacturing scale, enabling faster iteration and lower costs ➡️ A fully integrated ecosystem: co-located supply chains, aligned incentives and stable long-term policy signals The result isn't just more patents – it's the rapid commercialisation of new technologies that were barely imaginable a decade ago. Things like: ✅ EVs that can charge in 10 minutes ✅ Solar at US10c/W ✅ UHVDC cables that can carry 12 GW over thousands of kilometres ✅ Battery chemistries evolving at record speed ✅ Fast-response inverters that stabilise grids in milliseconds Patent leadership leads to manufacturing scale, cost reductions, booming exports and global dominance. This chart is an early signal of where clean-energy innovation is heading... #energy #renewables #energytransition

I stalked my co-founder for months before we started a VC firm together. Not in a creepy way. I just knew Janneke Niessen was brilliant at building tech companies from scratch. She'd done it twice already. Most VCs look at the obvious things: market size, product-market fit, financials. But here's what 15 years of research taught me: 60% of startups die because their teams implode. Not competition. Not market conditions. Not running out of money. Teams fall apart. After studying thousands of founders at Berkeley and Amsterdam, I discovered something counterintuitive: The traits that make someone an amazing early founder often become toxic during scale-up. That raw drive? It can turn into control-freakery. That passionate vision? It might blind you to market changes. That fierce independence? It could prevent crucial delegation. This is why Janneke and I built CapitalT differently. We don't just evaluate pitch decks. We measure team dynamics using hard science. We spot scaling problems before they emerge. Because unicorns aren't born from pitch decks. They're built by teams that evolve. P.S. Know a founder who needs to hear this? Tag them below.

Most “data-driven” cultures aren’t driven. They’re dragged. You see it everywhere: → Analysts drowning in “quick questions” → Dashboards built for no one, maintained by everyone → Dashboards get skimmed and then spark 6 follow-up requests → And it always leads to: "Can you export that to Excel?" → And in the end: “Let’s buy another tool.” Here’s the hard truth: You don’t have a tooling problem. You have a leadership void disguised as a data backlog. Data teams aren’t supposed to just build things. They’re meant to guide. That means: - Saying “no” to noise - Asking “why” like a toddler with a mission - Designing for decisions, not just reports - Coaching teams on how to think, not just what to click Stop dragging people with dashboards. Start pulling them forward with clarity. That’s when your data culture starts to drive itself. Want to make the shift from dashboard factory 🏭 to strategic partner♟️ ? Join 1500+ data pros who read my free newsletter for weekly tips on building impactful data teams in the AI-age: https://lnkd.in/gqQ728mA

𝗜𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? 👇 This maps from Erin Meyer says more than it seems. It shows how leadership styles differ across cultures — from top-down to consensual, from egalitarian to hierarchical. Now overlay this with how different countries and organizations are embracing AI. Some patterns start to emerge. 💡 A few hypotheses worth exploring: 🔹 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 cultures (like Japan, China, India) — often overlooked in the West for “lack of clarity” or “executive presence” — might now have an edge in prompting, where nuance, connection, and context matter. 🔹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝘀-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 cultures (Nordics, Netherlands) — great for building trust and inclusive experimentation — may struggle with the speed and decisiveness AI rollouts often require. 🔹 𝗛𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 cultures — can scale AI faster at first. But without cultural buy-in and grassroots learning, AI literacy may remain surface-level. 🔹 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗼-𝗦𝗮𝘅𝗼𝗻 cultures — comfortable with flat structures and fast decision-making — may adopt tools quickly, but risk missing the deeper mindset shift AI demands. So the question is no longer just how to adopt AI — but how to align it with the cultural engine of your organization. 👉 And more than that: how can we be intentional in leveraging cultural differences — not flattening them, not ignoring them — but using them as an advantage? What do you see when you look at this map? Where does your culture help — or hold you back — in using AI well? 🔄 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 — 𝗜’𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀. #AI #CultureAndAI #Leadership #GlobalTeams #FutureOfWork Dave Ulrich Caroline Salen Terence Mauri Britt Ploug Laurent Aufils Hack Future Lab Robert von Klot-Heydenfeldt Özer Güzel Falguni Shah Andrew Nowak

When you're launching a startup, it's easy to get caught up in product development and funding. But company culture is crucial—it can boost employee engagement and productivity by 33%. This invisible force shapes your organization's future, influencing everything from employee satisfaction to customer experience. Here’s how we’ve prioritized building and nurturing our company culture from day one: Start Early and Be Intentional: Define your core values from the outset. These principles guide behavior and decision-making. For us, it’s about ownership, innovation, and collaboration. We made sure every team member understands and lives by these values. Communicate Your Values Clearly and Consistently: Implement practices like regular team-building activities, open communication channels, and an open-door policy. Our commitment to clear communication and consistent reinforcement of our values has fostered a supportive and productive work environment. This has been pivotal in maintaining a transparent and cohesive team dynamic. Hire for Cultural Fit and Skills: Ensure new hires align with your core values and have the necessary skills. This maintains team cohesion and supports growth. At Supersourcing, we focus on finding those who excel in their roles and enhance our culture, ensuring every new hire adds to our environment positively. Encourage Feedback and Be Open to Change: As founders, we lead by example and create an environment where the team runs the organization. We remain flexible and value external perspectives and mentors, which help us refine our culture as we grow. This openness has allowed us to continuously improve and adapt to new challenges. Your culture is your company's personality. It's what makes you unique, attracts top talent, and keeps your team motivated through the ups and downs of startup life. How are you building and nurturing your company culture? Share your experiences in the comments below. #companyculture #hiring 

Very excited to share my most recent article in Forbes, focusing on the role of philanthropy in supporting climate innovation in emerging markets. Over the past few weeks, our team has had some great conversations with foundations and other partners who are supporting climate entrepreneurs in the some of the most vulnerable countries. Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to play a role here, but we need a wider aperture in terms of what it can and should do. The article proposes five areas where philanthropy can take on a wider agenda to not just fund more climate startups in these markets, but to build the talent pools and enabling ecosystems that support these companies. Here's a breakdown of the five areas: 1. New company building models: We don’t need just more climate entrepreneurship and innovation in developing countries, but we need it to be targeted at solving the most pressing problems. Purpose-built platforms - venture studios and builder models - can incubate startups with greater intentionality, offering technical capacity, market access, and tailored support that meet local needs. 2. Build fractional leadership networks: As much as more funding is needed to support climate startups in their early stages, matching them with the right talent at the right time can be critical. And there’s no guarantee that this talent is locally available. We need specialized programs that can match seasoned leadership - e.g. fractional CFOs, CMOs, and other C-level executives along with technical experts - who can provide critical guidance, strategic discipline, and credibility, making ventures more investment-ready and sustainable. 3. Ecosystem enablers and hubs: Climate tech benefits from enabling ecosystems, which often entail complex networks of universities giving birth to ideas, funds financing the development of prototypes, executive talent coming in from the corporate world and policymakers assessing how to incentivize the adoption of climate technologies. 4. Create linkages between emerging markets: Most funding, technology and talent transfer in climate tech tends to be concentrated between wealthy countries, but there are opportunities to strengthen ties between emerging markets themselves. Creating networks between regions fosters peer learning, market entry, and collaboration. 5. Prioritize adaptation and resilience: Often, adaptation and resilience (A&R) risks are the primary ways in which emerging markets first and foremost experience climate change. Increasing finance, company building and entrepreneurship support for A&R - health, disaster resilience, agriculture, and water - reflects the acute realities on the ground and brings direct benefits to vulnerable communities.

They raised $10M. Six months later, 40% of their customers had vanished. A VC friend asked me to check in. “Super smart team,” he said. “Great culture. Good people.” I hopped on a flight. Sat in on a product meeting. Something felt... off. Everyone was so nice. So affirming. So painfully polite. The CEO pitched a clearly bad idea. Nobody pushed back. One PM even nodded harder (like that would fix it). After the meeting, I pulled an engineer aside. “What’d you think of that pitch?” He exhaled. “Honestly? It’s a bad call. But… I don’t want to be that guy.” That’s when it clicked. They hadn’t built psychological safety. They’d built fear of tension, dressed in Patagonia fleece. Nobody wanted to rock the boat. So they all paddled it off a cliff. The product flopped. Morale tanked. The team kept smiling while the company died. Here’s the paradox: If your culture can’t handle truth, it’s not safe. It’s silent. Startups don’t die from conflict. They die from the lack of it. Because if no one says, “This is a bad idea”... You’ll execute it. Perfectly. Politely. Right into the ground.

Germany invented the automobile. 🚗 But China just took the keys. 🔑 The 2025 Global Innovation Index is out: China cracks the top 10. Germany is out. 📉 The immediate response: "Of course China ranks high—it has 1.4 billion people and an $18.9 trillion economy compared to Germany's $4.7 trillion”. But here's what makes this milestone remarkable: WIPO's 78 indicators control for population and GDP. R&D spending is measured as a percentage of GDP, not absolute dollars. Researchers are counted per million people, not in total. Under these normalized metrics, China—a middle-income country—is outperforming nations with GDP per capita 3-4 times higher. Countries at China's income level typically rank in the 50s or 60s. China landed at #10. 🐲The "Fat Tech Dragon" Myth is Over The old narrative was simple: China innovates through brute force and massive spending. The new data reveals a leaner machine. China’s innovation output (patents, tech exports) is now surpassing its input scores (R&D spending). They are generating more bang for the innovation buck. How? Three structural shifts: 1️⃣Patent Power: World leader in annual patent filings. 2️⃣Cluster Dominance: Hosts more top global innovation clusters than any other country, with Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou now ranked #1 worldwide. 3️⃣Strategic Capital: Venture funding is strategically funneled into AI, semiconductors, and clean tech, not spread thin. Switzerland still ranks #1. Sweden #2. The U.S. #3. But China at #10 represents something unprecedented: proof that a middle-income economy can compete with wealthy Western nations on innovation efficiency, not just scale. Germany's displacement isn't about German decline—it filed more patents than ever. It's about China fundamentally improving how it converts resources into innovation output. The global innovation playbook is being rewritten. The assumption that high GDP per capita is a prerequisite for leadership is being challenged. The critical question: Is innovation becoming more democratic, or just more concentrated under state-led strategy? What’s your take? 💬 What’s the most underestimated driver of China’s innovation efficiency? _____ #innovation #China #Germany #technology #globalcompetition #ashleytalks

Watching young talent take bold risks made me think about the importance of nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset internally. Many organizations speak about innovation, yet their structures unintentionally restrict it. True entrepreneurship does not come from slogans or training sessions. It emerges when people are trusted to make decisions, take ownership, and challenge long-standing assumptions. When individuals feel responsible for outcomes rather than simply completing tasks, their entire perspective shifts. They begin to move with more confidence, think with greater ambition, and pursue ideas with the same determination you would expect from a founder. The biggest obstacle to internal entrepreneurship is unnecessary friction. Too many layers, slow approvals, and an environment that treats mistakes as failures quietly discourage initiative. In contrast, companies that allow space for calculated risk, value learning as much as results, and give teams visibility into the broader business naturally develop people who operate with a sense of ownership. The future belongs to organizations that enable this mindset. Leadership can emerge from any corner of a company when people are encouraged to question, explore, and build. Innovation becomes sustainable only when it is embedded in the culture, not imposed from above. Remember, real momentum begins when people shift from acting as employees to thinking as founders!