3 Metrics for Managing Innovation Lessons From Growth Leaders Authored by George S. Day, Geoffrey T. Boisi Emeritus Professor and Faculty Emeritus in Residence of the Mack Institute for Innovation Management of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Introduction T he intense innovation activity ignited by the global pandemic shows that some elephants can dance when they must. Companies have moved faster and taken bigger risks than could have been imagined. A further impetus to rethinking established and cumbersome innovation approaches is the acceleration of many trends that are already underway. The lockdown has brought forward a shift to online work practices and team-sharing platforms while creating new opportunities. As one example, three-dimensional printing is getting a boost by helping to replace faraway suppliers with nearby three- dimensional printing contractors and making supply chains more resilient. As another, the penetration of e-commerce grew as much in the three months from April to June 2020, as in the previous 10 years.2 Also, advancing rapidly are bioengineering capabilities to reprogram human organisms, potentially improving disease prevention and treatment. In this fast-shifting innovation environment, some observers are counseling that “forecasts are out and dashboards are in. The notion that you can fore- cast the economy, healthcare and other aspects of what can disrupt life … is 2 Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, Sara Hudson, Nicholas Northcote, and Suen Sunat, “The Great Accelera- tion,” McKinsey Quarterly, (July 2020).