There is a common perception in business that innovation belongs to startups and disruption comes from the edges. This may be true, but it overlooks an equally important reality: For an innovation to have impact, it must scale. Travel is a good example. A successful trip depends on a complex network of accommodations, airlines, payments systems, local business connections, and technology platforms. Many times they operate across borders with different regulatory requirements and practices. Simplifying that experience requires orchestrating a global network of partners, systems, and data. Innovation creates new possibilities. Scale turns those possibilities into reliable, global experiences that people trust. THE INNOVATION PARADOX Yet scale also creates a paradox. As organizations grow, they gain the resources, talent, and reach to solve increasingly complex challenges. However, this growth can also make innovation harder. Decision-making can shift from pursuing opportunity to protecting existing success. The challenge for large organizations is to preserve the qualities that made them successful in the first place: curiosity, speed, and a willingness to challenge assumptions. That mindset must be reflected in culture. The most innovative organizations create a shared sense of purpose. They empower teams to question the status quo and put customers at the center of decision-making. Experimentation is equally important. Scale and experimentation don’t need to be seen as conflicting. In reality, the greater the scale, the greater the opportunity to experiment. Large organizations can learn from a wider range of audiences, markets, and behaviors. But they need to create the conditions for continuous learning. That includes testing and adaptation. Leaders play a critical role in holding those two forces together through fostering inquiry and encouraging ownership. They must also help teams balance speed with rigor, creativity with discipline, and short-term execution with long-term thinking. INNOVATION DOESN’T HAPPEN IN A VACUUM Innovation is shaped by company culture and influenced by the business’s broader environment. The most innovative economies create conditions where businesses can start, compete, invest, and grow. Around the world, ecosystems bring together a range of complementary strengths. These include access to capital, dynamic investment environments, entrepreneurial energy, world-class talent, research excellence, and regulatory frameworks that support both innovation and trust. Perhaps nowhere is the relationship between innovation and scale clearer today than in generative AI . The technology is advancing at extraordinary speed, creating new possibilities for how people discover, plan, book, and experience travel. Creating a compelling AI application is the first step. Turning that innovation into trusted experiences for millions requires thoughtful deployment and strong governance. It also requires deep relationships with customers and global industry partners, and the ability to learn and improve responsibly at scale. SCALE COMES WITH RESPONSIBILITY Every organization has a responsibility to consider what it can build as well as how to build it. That includes whether it should be built at all. For organizations operating at scale, that responsibility becomes even greater. Scale amplifies impact—for better and worse. That is why organizations must embed ethics, trust, and integrity from the beginning. Over the last three decades, I have learned that innovation and scale are not opposing forces. The challenge is ensuring that growth strengthens an organization’s capacity to innovate rather than diminishing it. This requires leaders who remain curious, organizations that continue experimenting as they grow, and policy environments that keep the door open to competition, investment, and entrepreneurship. Glenn Fogel is the chief executive officer and president of Booking Holdings.
Fast Company
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