Next week, we are privileged to host Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath for a 1-day Strategy Masterclass. Joining us will be 40 Norwegian executives, strategy and innovation leaders.

We caught up with partner and strategy tool designer Christian Rangen in his final preparation for the upcoming event.

1. What’s the biggest takeaway for the participants?

I think the biggest takeaway will be new insights in how to think about strategy outside your old core area. We all know most companies struggle with the legacy perspective on strategy, as more of the same leading them to continue to do what they have been doing. This is sometimes called path dependency.

What I find important in Rita’s work is that she can connect strategy and innovation at the highest level.

If there’s one takeaway that I wish for our 40 executives, it’s that they leave with a clear road map for how to develop growth strategies in radical new areas.

2. What kind of challenges will we focus on?

I think the big challenge for most companies is organizing for innovation. This is also what we call “getting the right transformation architecture”.

A big belief that we share with Rita is that innovation has little to do with new ideas. Although new ideas are important, that’s not what makes or breaks the innovation output.

Rita has come up with a really interesting concept that she calls “ideation, incubation, and acceleration”. The challenge for most firms, I believe, is getting that incubation, and most notably, the acceleration right within a large company.

This comes down to building the innovation skills, finding funding, getting the right mandate, and really look at the long-term resource allocation process in place. These are all important building blocks in organizing for innovation. I think that’ll be a truly important area to work on.

3. What new tools will be introduced?

We are looking forward to seeing Rita introduce some of her latest work, including some of her software tools. The first section of the program will focus on her Innovation Maturity Scale, an excellent tool that we just started using with great effect. I think this will be a highlight to the participants.

She will also introduce a number of her latest tools and thinking coming out of her ongoing projects.

We will also introduce some of the latest strategy tools including The Transformation Test and Industry Shifts. These can also be downloaded at StrategyTools.io.

4. What will be the biggest call-to-action for the participants?

Honestly, that’s what I’m looking forward to seeing myself. We are really focused on the impact, the effect of this Masterclass. While we are sure that they will be wonderful for everyone, the big value really lies in what impact is created.

I need, and I think all participants will agree, to see significant, actionable outcome from this truly exciting Masterclass.

We hope to see big, bold innovation projects and new growth strategies launched in the wake of the upcoming Strategy Masterclass. We’re really excited to welcome everyone next week.

Click here to learn more about the Rita McGrath Masterclass.