I’ve seen a lot of innovation programs over the years. Most of them are theater - activities that look like innovation but don’t produce anything useful. The organizations doing them feel innovative without actually changing anything.

Learning to distinguish innovation theater from real innovation is one of the most valuable skills for innovation leaders. Here’s how I think about it.

The Characteristics of Innovation Theater

Innovation theater has recognizable patterns:

Activity metrics, not outcome metrics. The program measures number of ideas generated, workshops held, hackathons completed - not products shipped, revenue generated, or problems solved.

Disconnection from core business. Innovation happens “over there” in a lab or accelerator with no connection to how the company actually operates. There’s no path from innovation activity to business impact.

Leadership tourism. Executives visit the innovation lab, give speeches at innovation events, and pose for photos - but don’t allocate real resources or remove real obstacles.

Startup cosplay. The innovation team has beanbag chairs, post-it notes everywhere, and flexible working arrangements. They’re mimicking startup aesthetics without startup accountability.

No dead projects. If nothing ever gets killed, the bar for progress is too low. Real innovation involves trying things and discovering they don’t work.

Vague success stories. When asked for results, the team points to “learnings,” “relationships built,” or “culture change” rather than specific business outcomes.

Recycled ideas. The same concepts keep appearing in different innovation cycles without ever being built or definitively rejected.

The Characteristics of Real Innovation

Real innovation looks different:

Clear business objectives. The innovation work connects to specific business problems or opportunities. Success is defined in business terms.

Resource commitment. Real budget, real headcount, real executive attention - not leftovers from other priorities.

Path to deployment. There’s a clear mechanism for successful innovations to become part of how the company operates. The innovation team isn’t responsible for building everything themselves.

Hard decisions. Projects get killed when they don’t show promise. Difficult tradeoffs get made. Not everything is possible.

Measurable outcomes. The program tracks metrics that would matter even if the word “innovation” weren’t attached - revenue, cost savings, time reduction, quality improvement.

Organizational friction. Real innovation threatens existing interests. If there’s no pushback from established parts of the organization, the innovation probably isn’t meaningful.

Learning that changes behavior. When projects fail, the organization changes what it does next based on what it learned. Failed experiments aren’t just checked off.

Why Theater Persists

If innovation theater doesn’t work, why do organizations keep doing it?

It’s easier. Real innovation is hard. It requires making difficult decisions, confronting organizational resistance, and risking failure. Theater lets everyone feel innovative without the hard parts.

It’s visible. Innovation labs and hackathons are photographable. Executives can point to them in presentations. The slow, difficult work of actually changing how the company operates is less photogenic.

Incentives are misaligned. The people running innovation programs are often judged on activity metrics. If you’re measured on workshops delivered, you optimize for workshops, not outcomes.

Risk aversion. Real innovation means some things will fail publicly. Innovation theater fails quietly through inaction, which feels safer.

Time horizons mismatch. Real innovation takes years to pay off. Executive tenures are often shorter. Theater produces visible activity immediately.

How to Move from Theater to Reality

If you’re running or overseeing an innovation program:

Change how you measure. Kill activity metrics. Measure business outcomes only. If you can’t define what business outcome you’re pursuing, you’re not doing innovation - you’re doing entertainment.

Connect to operations. Innovation that can’t deploy isn’t innovation. Build explicit mechanisms for successful projects to move into production.

Create accountability for outcomes. Someone needs to own whether innovation produces results, with career consequences. Diffuse responsibility produces diffuse results.

Kill things. Active project termination demonstrates seriousness. It frees resources for better bets. It builds credibility with the organization.

Budget appropriately. Innovation theater often has just enough budget to look busy but not enough to actually accomplish anything. Either fund innovation properly or don’t pretend to do it.

Engage the resisters. The people who push back against innovation often have legitimate concerns. Engaging them - not ignoring or circumventing them - produces better outcomes.

Extend time horizons. Build innovation programs with multi-year objectives and appropriate patience. Quick wins are fine, but real transformation takes time.

The Hard Truth

Here’s the uncomfortable reality: many organizations don’t actually want innovation. They want to feel innovative and look innovative without actually changing anything.

Real innovation is threatening. It challenges existing power structures. It requires admitting that current approaches are inadequate. It means some people’s expertise becomes less valuable.

Innovation theater is a way to capture the prestige of innovation without the disruption.

If your organization is comfortable with its innovation program - if there’s no tension, no difficult conversations, no organizational friction - that’s a warning sign. Real innovation isn’t comfortable.

For Innovation Leaders

If you’re responsible for innovation:

Be honest about what you have. Is this real innovation or theater? The first step to fixing it is acknowledging what it is.

Build the case for change. Show leadership what real innovation would require and what it could produce. Make the choice explicit.

Make some enemies. If everyone’s happy with your innovation program, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.

Measure what matters. Insist on outcome metrics even when activity metrics are easier to collect.

Be willing to walk away. If your organization wants theater but you want reality, you may be in the wrong place.

Innovation theater is common because it’s comfortable. Real innovation is rare because it’s hard. The organizations that do the hard work - that commit resources, make decisions, tolerate failure, and push through resistance - are the ones that actually change.

The question isn’t whether you have an innovation program. It’s whether you’re doing innovation or performing it.