Ideas change everything

Two reasons companies fail -- and how to avoid them

2,349,087 plays|

Knut Haanaes |

TED@BCG London

• June 2015

Is it possible to run a company and reinvent it at the same time? For business strategist Knut Haanaes, the ability to innovate after becoming successful is the mark of a great organization. He shares insights on how to strike a balance between perfecting what we already know and exploring totally new ideas -- and lays out how to avoid two major strategy traps.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Is it possible to run a company and reinvent it at the same time? For business strategist Knut Haanaes, the ability to innovate after becoming successful is the mark of a great organization. He shares insights on how to strike a balance between perfecting what we already know and exploring totally new ideas -- and lays out how to avoid two major strategy traps.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

About the speaker

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Knut Haanaes believes that the secret to creating lasting, impactful companies is to find a balance between doing what you're good at and looking for new challenges to take on.

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Your Strategy Needs a Strategy: How to Choose and Execute the Right Approach

Martin Reeves, Knut Haanaes and Janmejaya Sinha | Harvard Business Review Press (2015)

Martin Reeves, Knut Haanaes and Janmejaya Sinha - *Your Strategy Needs a Strategy: How to Choose and Execute the Right Approach*

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute