Suits are as likely to be great innovators as skinny-jean hipsters

A DIFFICULT year, 1930. The Great Depression was wreaking havoc with people’s lives, while fascism stalked the streets of Europe. But if you were lucky enough to be the CEO of an American corporation, times were pretty good.

Why? Because in those days before globalisation and digital disruption, big companies had it relatively easy. You can see this from the work of Yale professor Richard Foster, who has looked at how the lifespan of S&P 500 companies (the biggest businesses in the US) has changed over time.

According to his research, in 1930 the average lifespan of a US corporation was 90 years. In other words, back then the CEO of a huge company such as Kodak could reasonably assume that his business would live for around a century.

Today, thanks to technological change and global competition, the average lifespan has fallen to just 18 years — and may soon drop to as little as 10 years.

As a result, corporations are having to think differently — or else get overtaken by fast-growing upstarts.

I see this for myself at my company, Second Home, every day. One thing I love most about working there is that you can find so many different industries and organisation types under one roof.

There are fashion companies next to charities, film-makers alongside technology start-ups, and government agencies cheek by jowl with creative agencies. It’s a fertile mix: a microcosm of London’s modern economy.

But what some people find surprising is that Second Home is also home to lots of teams from multi-national outfits, like professional services company Ernst & Young, corporate law firm Taylor Wessing, fashion company Ermenegildo Zegna, US advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy plus property company Cushman & Wakefield.

They’re there to ensure they don’t get beaten by the disruptive start-ups — and the best way to do that is to think radically and disrupt your own business before someone else does it for you.

In the words of the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck: “If revolution there is to be, let us undertake it, rather than undergo it.”

That’s why these corporates are putting themselves in an environment where they’re surrounded by creative teams that they can learn from, partner with, or even buy outright.

And as a result, the most radical business thinking I’m coming across right now is emanating not from start-ups but from the big businesses.

Take Cushman & Wakefield. It has created an incubator at Second Home, where it’s investing in technology startups that could transform the property industry. It’s a bold move for such an established company — and a great way to leverage its experience and resources to create value.

What’s more, C&W is mixing with the creatives around them, leading to new innovations. A great example is the way it has worked with Visualise, a virtual reality studio based at Second Home, so that people can do property viewings using VR. It’s a smart idea, and one that can only happen because the corporations are hanging out with the insurgents.

So if you’re looking for innovation and radical thinking in 2017, don’t just look at start-ups. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, many of the best ideas in London today aren’t being generated by the people wearing skinny jeans. They’re coming from the men and women in suits.

The most radical business thinking I’m coming across right now is emanating not from start-ups but from the big businesses.