Month: January 2026

Apple is often discussed in extremes. It is either praised as the most innovative company in the world or criticized for not being as revolutionary as it once was, but both views miss the point. Apple’s real strength was never about chasing constant novelty, but about making deliberate choices and committing to them fully.

One of the most important things Apple did right was understanding that innovation is not about features, but about experience. While competitors competed on specifications, Apple focused on how technology feels to use. Simplicity was not an aesthetic decision; it was a strategic one. By controlling both hardware and software, Apple reduced friction for users and created products that felt coherent rather than assembled.

Another thing Apple did right was aligning design, engineering, and business under a single narrative. Innovation was not isolated in a department or lab. It was embedded into how decisions were made across the organization. This alignment made execution possible, something many companies struggle with even when they have strong ideas.

Apple’s success was not the result of constant disruption, but of consistency. It didn’t try to innovate everywhere at once. Instead, it chose where to be radical and where to be stable. That balance is what many organizations miss when they try to copy Apple’s products without understanding its strategy.

In the end, Apple did not win by being the loudest innovator. It won by being intentional.

Every company claims to be innovative, future-oriented, and open to new ideas,  yet very little actually changes. It feels like innovation has just become the latest corporate buzzword.

Many organizations invest heavily in innovation appearance. They organize hackathons, innovation labs, internal accelerators, brainstorming sessions, all highly visible, all safe. These initiatives allow leaders to say “we are innovating” without touching core processes, incentives, or decision rights, and to them innovation becomes a performance they show off rather than a process towards improvement.

True innovation challenges comfort, existing assumptions, it questions why things are done a certain way. It exposes inefficiencies, outdated roles, and unnecessary hierarchy. That creates discomfort for the company, and that discomfort is precisely why innovation is often contained.

Examples of pretend innovation

 

Kodak

Kodak invented the digital camera, and then buried it. Digital photography threatened its film business, margins, and identity. Innovation existed internally, but leadership chose protection over transformation.

Lesson: Having ideas means nothing if they threaten existing revenue.

Nokia

Nokia talked about innovation constantly, but in actuality did nothing.
Internally, decision-making was slow, hierarchical, and risk-averse. Teams saw the smartphone shift coming. Leadership hesitated, debated, delayed. Innovation initiatives existed, but power stayed centralized and conservative, and didn’t give any space for the innovation to actually develop.

Lesson: Innovation dies when insight cannot travel upward.

IBM

IBM invested heavily in innovation labs, design thinking, and transformation programs, yet many of these efforts were detached from core incentives and legacy systems. Innovation was encouraged, but only if it fits in the existing business models.

Lesson: Innovation programs without structural change become corporate theater.

General Electric

GE branded itself as a digital and industrial innovator, it launched GE Digital and pushed ambitious transformation narratives. Internally, however, legacy complexity, financial pressure, and rigid management structures slowed execution. The vision was innovative, but the organization wasn’t ready to support it.

Lesson: Vision alone does not override organizational inertia.

Meta

Meta publicly promotes bold innovation, AI, VR, the metaverse. But internally, innovation is still heavily driven by growth metrics, ad revenue, and engagement KPIs. Many experiments exist, but few escape the gravitational pull of the core business, the innovation is real, but selectively allowed.

Lesson: When metrics dominate, innovation follows incentives, not imagination.

WeWork

WeWork framed itself as a tech innovator reshaping work culture, when in reality, its core model was traditional real estate with a modern narrative. They masked their weak innovation with fancy innovation language and branding.

Lesson: Branding innovation is not the same as building it.

Blockbuster

Blockbuster experimented with online rentals and partnerships. But it protected its physical-store model for too long.

Lesson: Partial innovation is as bad as none.