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Mission-Driven Innovation

How to Lead Technology in a Complex World.

A practical leadership blueprint for turning bold technology ambition into real, scalable impact — built for a world where prediction fails and learning wins.

Release
Q3 2026
Foreword
R. G. Cooper
Author
Anita Friis Sommer
Mission-Driven Innovation — How to Lead Technology in a Complex World, by Anita Friis Sommer
01 Overview

A roadmap for innovation that actually delivers.

Traditional innovation models are no longer sufficient. Senior leaders in R&D, operations, product development, and transformation must navigate accelerating complexity while still delivering measurable results. Agile, Stage-Gate®, and other proven approaches remain powerful — but today’s innovation environment demands more than methods alone.

It requires alignment across strategy, governance, leadership, finance, and technology under deep uncertainty. Mission-Driven Innovation offers a practical roadmap for building innovation systems that deliver stronger business performance, meaningful progress for the planet, and positive impact for people.

02 Inside the book

What you’ll learn.

03 The System

Seven components. One operating model.

At the core of the book is the Mission-Driven Innovation System™ — seven interlocking components that connect leadership behaviour, strategy, governance, digital enablers, and shared purpose into a single, coherent way of working.

Many innovation failures stem not from weak methods, but from systems that were never designed for sustained learning under deep uncertainty.

From the Foreword by Prof. Robert G. CooperCreator of the Stage-Gate® model
Prof. Robert G. Cooper
04 Praise

What leaders are saying.

Mission-Driven Innovation contains many of the principles that are important if you want to innovate with speed and quality. The ideas are practical, grounded in real examples, and relevant enough that they made me think about where and how I could begin applying them in my own organization.

John HansenSenior Vice President, LEGO Group

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mission-Driven Innovation. The book combines compelling storytelling with practical innovation leadership and offers valuable insights for anyone seeking to turn bold ideas into real-world impact.

Hansjörg ReichSenior Director, Global Business Development, Procter & Gamble
Get the system

The complete system — book, frameworks, and blueprint.

Join early access for launch updates, exclusive insights, and a 20% subscriber discount at release in Q3 2026.