Getting to “Yes” for Corporate Innovation

I’ve been working with Roberto, the Chief Innovation Officer of a diversified company I’ll call Sprocket Industries.
I hadn’t heard from Roberto in awhile and when we caught up, it was clear his initial optimism had faded. I listened as Roberto listed the obstacles to the new innovation program at Sprocket, “We’ve created innovation teams in both the business units and in corporate. Our CEO is behind the program. The division general managers have given us their support. But the teams still run into what feel like immovable obstacles in every part of the company. Finance, HR, Branding, Legal, you name it, everyone in a division or corporate staff has an excuse for why we can’t do something, and everyone has the power to say no and no urgency to make a change.”
https://steveblank.com/2015/03/17/getting-to-yes-for-corporate-innovation/