By: Shaun Saunders
In a world navigating AI disruption, global economic shifts, and evolving cultural paradigms, few figures have shaped the innovation landscape as impactfully as Cris Beswick. Recognized internationally as a leading authority on innovation maturity and cultural transformation, Beswick has spent the last decade helping executive teams dismantle underperforming innovation strategies and rebuild systems that are resilient, measurable, and future-ready.
After his advisory firm was named one of Thinkers360’s Top 50 Thought Leading Companies on Innovation for 2025, Beswick is embarking on a new chapter: stepping away from the traditional consulting model to work directly with CEOs and C-suite teams ready to embed innovation into the core of their organizations.
According to Beswick, the old consultancy model has run its course. Executives no longer need generic decks and abstract frameworks. They need practitioners with real-world insight who can help transform leadership, culture, and strategic execution from the inside out.
Over the years, his signature methodology—known as the Innovation Equilibrium—has provided executive teams with a practical model for aligning three historically siloed dimensions: strategy, leadership, and culture. When those three elements converge, innovation shifts from being a scattered initiative to a deeply embedded organizational capability.
From Entrepreneur to Innovation Architect
Beswick began his career not in corporate advisory, but in the entrepreneurial trenches. Raised in a working-class village outside Manchester, he launched multiple successful businesses by his early 30s before burning out during the 2008 financial crisis. That turning point catalyzed a new focus: helping others innovate not for novelty, but for long-term value creation.
His bestselling book, Building a Culture of Innovation, quickly became a boardroom staple. It outlined a six-step framework to systematize innovation as a cultural engine—rather than an outsourced function or standalone department. The framework has since been adopted by both Fortune 500s and public institutions.
Innovation with Impact
Today, Beswick works closely with CEOs, board chairs, and senior leaders across sectors who are no longer satisfied with surface-level change. With McKinsey data showing that while 80% of executives consider innovation a top priority, fewer than 10% are satisfied with their performance, the need for strategic alignment has never been more pressing.
His client portfolio includes Cisco, Amazon, Novartis, Nationwide, and multiple government agencies—from Luxembourg to Turkey. Beswick brings a unique ability to operate across both private enterprise and public policy, reinforcing innovation as a tool for competitiveness, resilience, and governance.
Embedding Innovation Maturity
One of Beswick’s most cited contributions is his innovation maturity model—a diagnostic system that allows executive teams to evaluate where innovation truly lives in their organizations, and where it’s absent. Much like physical fitness, innovation capability can’t be faked. It must be measured, cultivated, and sustained.
His approach is comprehensive—extending from HR and incentive systems to leadership development, performance management, and internal communication. The result is a shift from episodic innovation to embedded, strategic renewal.
Shaping Advisory for the Modern CEO
As Beswick moves beyond his own consultancy to work hands-on with CEOs, his mission is clear: to help leaders design organizations where innovation isn’t a project—it’s a default setting. In his view, the advisory space must evolve. The modern CEO no longer needs a consultant—they need a strategic partner who can drive execution, embed capability, and deliver lasting value.
In the face of AI acceleration, net-zero imperatives, and relentless market volatility, Cris Beswick is reframing innovation not as an option, but as a foundational operating principle for leadership in the 21st century.
