WACKER
WACKER, a multinational chemical manufacturer with over 14,000 employees, chose to act on the future before there was a dire sense of urgency. It sent 19 employees to Silicon Valley for four weeks, guided by BMI, to search for new business models and become innovation change agents, in what became WACKER's first-ever Silicon Valley Challenge.
The challenge
Operating in a highly competitive, low-margin market, WACKER's leadership asked what future business models they hadn't thought of and how to enable employees to find them while learning to continually innovate. They understood the answers lay outside the building, free from internal politics, current KPIs, and business as usual.
Our approach
A global internal challenge drew over 300 applications, from which 19 motivated employees were selected and split into three teams. BMI, as local strategic Sherpa anchored in its San Francisco office, designed a four-week flow of weekly sprints combining Google Sprint methods with the Design a Better Business double-loop process, coaching sessions, workshops, and meetups, with teams validating assumptions with actual future customers, cut off from daily responsibilities.
The results
- Teams returned with big, audacious, future-focused concepts anchored in customer needs, presented at a Shark Tank-style session to the full WACKER board, which committed further time and resources to continue validation.
- Some teams pivoted no fewer than 10 times in four weeks, driven by validation with real future customers.
- Participants became innovation change agents, spreading new tools, skills, and a search mindset throughout WACKER.
The method stayed with the team. It always does.
Want resultslike these?
Explore the possibilities with Patrick van der Pijl and the BMI team. Every big shift starts with a conversation.