Be Brave. Have Fun. Make a Difference.
Innovation that sticks, not stalls
Most innovation fails not for lack of ideas – but for lack of implementation. I help New Zealand leaders close that gap, using a practical system field-tested with 350+ organisations across healthcare, public sector, agriculture and commercial sectors.
Sound familiar?
I understand the frustration of leading innovation that never quite makes it into everyday impact – or into real products and services.
- Your team jumps to solutions before the problem is understood
- Good ideas die in the pilot - never making it to scale
- Workshops generate energy but not lasting change
- Innovation loses out to BAU pressure and short-term ROI
- Culture and politics quietly stall what looked promising
- Buy-in is won in the room but lost in the organisation
The problem isn’t your people or your ambition. It’s the missing system that carries innovation all the way from insight to implemented impact.
Close the innovation implementation gap and build change that lasts.
Most innovation doesn’t fail for lack of ideas. It fails between the prototype and the organisation – where resourcing decisions, behavioural change and internal politics quietly kill what looked promising in the workshop. That distance is the innovation implementation gap.
I help transformation leaders close that gap. Through consulting, workshops and capability programmes built around the DUCTRI framework, I take teams from problem discovery all the way through to lasting organisational change – with Resourcing and Implementing built in as core phases, not afterthoughts.
The DUCTRI framework is the system behind Innovation in Action (Wiley, July 2026), co-authored with Dr. Christian Walsh. It has been refined over 10+ years and field-tested with 350+ leaders across 20+ sectors in New Zealand and beyond.
"Vaughan was fantastic at progressing the innovative changes we need"
Sanjay Dutt – Commercial Manager, Christchurch City Council
The book.
“The essential playbook for turning ideas into impact.”
Jeremy Utley
Adjunct Professor of AI & Design Thinking, Stanford d.school.
Innovation in Action is the practical guide for leaders who are done with innovation theatre and ready to build change that lasts.
Ready to make innovation stick?
Let's talk about where your innovation is stalling - and what it would take to close the gap. A 30-minute clarity call is a good place to start.