Ever since I was a child, I have loved the Warner Bros. cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. I was fascinated by their different characters, and how they interacted, and the way that the storylines were both the same and different. Of course, some of the characters are always the “fall guy” and others always win, but isn’t life a bit like that too? We all know people who seem to live charmed lives, and others for whom everything always goes wrong.

Recently, though, I have come to realise that my favourite cartoon characters were also a great metaphor for the different types of innovators that we see in every industry and organisation. Each one has a particular focus and characteristics, with even the traditional “winners” having advantages and disadvantages. In my day-to-day work as an innovation consultant, I come across innovation team members in all shapes and sizes. Here are my favourites:

Bugs Bunny. Main focus: Serendipity.

You are indisputably (especially in your own mind!) the best innovator around: You are clever and capable of outsmarting anyone who challenges you and your innovation strategies. Sometimes your opponents might try to bully or threaten you, but you keep on minding your own innovation business and just get on with it, calmly winning through in the end. It’s worth considering one thing, though: Could you sometimes be a bit overconfident? And could that sometimes be a disadvantage?

Daffy Duck. Main focus: Assertiveness.

You work tirelessly, but still don’t seem to be able to achieve the innovative results that Bugs achieves without even trying. You are assertive, completely unrestrained and combative. You definitely see innovation as an essential, and you spend a lot of time trying in vain to convince other people of the benefit of your ideas. Maybe from time to time, though, you need to stop complaining or looking for attention and think about teaming up with other innovators. In the end, innovation is about sharing ideas, and you can’t do it all by yourself.

Wile E. Coyote. Main focus: Sophistication.

You try and try, but you never succeed. What’s more, you persist in using absurdly and increasingly complex contraptions to pursue what you believe is innovation. You would rather buy complex devices from a mail-order company than develop your own ideas, but their sophistication often works against you. It also seems that innovation often runs far ahead of you, and you struggle to keep up. Maybe you should think a bit smaller and less sophisticated sometimes. After all, simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication!

Road Runner. Main focus: Disruption.

Never mind where you’re going – you just need to keep running! Don’t let anyone catch you! Your watchword is “Innovate, innovate, innovate!”, and you don’t ever stop. You have a terrific urge to revolutionise everything, to break down barriers and see what’s beyond. You may not even know why, sometimes, but you know that it’s essential to keep moving. So what if others are not innovating, or innovating differently? You don’t care. The important thing is that nobody is innovating more than you. But hold on a minute. Have you ever heard of cross-fertilisation? You might want to slow down and have a chat with your colleagues sometimes – you could learn something new!

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Elmer J. Fudd. Main focus: Consolidation.

In your view, there are already far too many of those self-styled innovators around, too many exuberant data scientist-types making things messy and not cleaning up after themselves! Luckily there are people like you around, who still think about foundations: data management, data quality and interoperability platforms. If you weren’t there, who would keep the show on the road and pick up the pieces later? And what would these hooligans build their ideas on? Of course this is true, but it is worth remembering that the light bulb was not invented by trying to improve the candle.

Cecil Turtle. Main focus: Synchronicity.

Yes, of course, innovation is important, and we must pursue it, but let’s just keep calm and have a cup of tea first. Disruption is not always good; it can be much better to take a step-by-step approach. You are able to think big, but you prefer start small, because you know that it is important to understand very clearly what works and what doesn’t. You also believe that it’s essential to do things in the right order. Others may achieve success more quickly, but you know that they may also crash and burn, and you want to make sure that you don’t.

So who’s who in your organisation? Do you recognise yourself? I’d love to hear from you.