Snap fosters innovation by maintaining two distinct structures: a small, flat design team for new ideas and a large, hierarchical organization for scaled execution. Leadership's key role is to manage the dialogue and mutual respect between these two groups, preventing the natural friction that arises.

To foster innovation, leaders should intentionally cultivate a distributed network of "rebels." These individuals are empowered to question norms across disparate functions like hardware and marketing, ensuring critical thinking is embedded throughout the organization, not siloed in specific departments.

Large companies like Rippling and TripActions maintain innovation velocity by creating "carved out" teams for new, "zero to one" initiatives. This organizational strategy provides singular focus, empowering a small group to execute with the intensity and speed of an early-stage startup without corporate distractions.

According to Joe Tsai, creating a dedicated "innovation division" in a large company is a flawed strategy. These units fail because the company's core business will always command the best talent and resources, leaving the innovation team isolated and under-resourced. Innovation must be instilled organization-wide.

As companies scale, the "delivery" mindset (efficiency, spreadsheets) naturally pushes out the "discovery" mindset (creativity, poetry). A CEO's crucial role is to act as "discoverer-in-chief," protecting the innovation function from being suffocated by operational demands, which prevents the company from becoming obsolete.

Afeyan advises against making breakthrough innovation everyone's responsibility, as it's unsustainable and disruptive to daily jobs. Instead, companies should create a separate group with different motivations, composition, and rewards, focused solely on discontinuous leaps.

Siphoning off cutting-edge work to a separate 'labs' group demotivates core teams and disconnects innovation from those who own the customer. Instead, foster 'innovating teams' by making innovation the responsibility of the core product teams themselves.

To achieve breakthrough innovation, leaders must form a small team and shelter it from the main organization's systems, constraints, and distractions. This isolation provides the mental space required to rethink problems from first principles, rather than being biased by existing structures.

Contrary to the idea of limitless brainstorming, true innovation accelerates when leaders define clear boundaries. As seen in Lego's turnaround, providing constraints challenges teams to develop more focused, creative, and profitable solutions within a limited space.