J. Michael Prairie, Jr., always thought that innovation began with one person—a visionary thinker tirelessly toiling away in his or her basement to develop the world’s next revolutionary product. That image fascinated his “inner tech nerd,” who longed to have a hand in that kind of groundbreaking experience. However, when he assumed the role of Vice President of AREA Development of Nitto, Inc. for the Americas region of global manufacturing company Nitto Denko Corporation, he quickly realized that he hadn’t seen the whole picture.
“I thought that our company needed to develop the next big ‘wow’ product. I thought I needed to come up with some revolutionary new technology. But I soon realized that I needed to focus on our strengths and market opportunities instead of swinging for the fences,” explains Prairie, who actually started with Nitto more than 14 years ago as the company’s patent attorney and general counsel. In 2020, looking to shift his career from the legal side of the business to product development, he took on a newly created role that focused on increasing innovation and speeding the development of new products in North and South America. A few months after he transitioned to the position, he also began his journey with MIT Sloan Executive Education, working towards his Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation, which he completed in April of 2021. And the courses he took gave him an entirely different and unexpected perspective on the practice of product development.
Have Faith in the Process
“When I started taking the MIT Sloan courses, I came to a dead stop and knew I had to go in a different direction that I would never have gone in before,” Prairie says. “The courses really helped me decide very quickly what the proper direction was for my work.”
In the beginning, Innovating in Existing Markets: Reviving Mature Products and Services made a significant impact on Prairie’s efforts. “I had years of experience related to innovation, but I had no experience with the process itself,” he says. In fact, Prairie didn’t even consider that innovation could involve a formalized process. He believed it all came down to inspiration and dedication to a specific technology. However, his first Executive Education course changed all of that. “My first course showed me that I had to learn to prioritize projects and manage them in a way that could help us speed up the process of getting to market,” he continues. “I was not prepared to jump into a completely different market or a different technology with our local, internal resources. I had to have a process that would allow us to focus on projects that we would be able to succeed with and eliminate product innovation that wasn’t going anywhere.”
Prairie’s newfound Executive Education knowledge helped him develop an internal process to do just that. And the results have been impressive. For instance, Nitto recently was able to use its expertise in tapes and adhesives to develop Ammonia Detection Tape DX-8208A, a detection tape that provides a visual representation of ammonia gas leaks, changing from white to blue when ammonia is present. It can be used in plants that deal with everything from fertilizer to commercial refrigeration, allowing those plants to detect and located leaks quickly and easily. “This sort of intelligent tape is a great and really logical extension of our capabilities,” says Prairie, who also credits the Mastering Design Thinking course with this team’s ability to launch the new tape in the market quickly and efficiently. “We were able to create a system that allowed us to identify customers’ needs and work through every stage of the development and production process, from design to manufacturing to quality control,” he notes. “I never thought that innovation was something you could create a process for in a direct manner, but this product really was a result of that.”
“I had to have a process that would allow us to focus on projects that we would be able to succeed with and eliminate product innovation that wasn’t going anywhere.”
In fact, with additional courses like Developing and Managing a Successful Technology Strategy, Prairie now has a completely changed view of the work that he is doing. “Innovation and invention are sometimes synonymous, but it’s critical to understand the distinction. There are very few inventions that are totally new. If anything, they are combinations of existing things that are put together in a new way for a new application,” he observes. “Innovation, which marries technology to market needs, is critically important for every company, but many companies just focus on invention. There are so many opportunities out there, and if we identify them and handle them right, we can create value for people and hopefully make the world a better place.”
The Next Step
According to Prairie, his main goal right now is to continue succeeding in his new product development role as he searches for new opportunities that allow Nitto to innovate within its wheelhouse and expand its market reach. He also looks forward to learning even more about the whole innovation picture beyond the design process itself. To do that, he plans to continue his MIT Sloan journey and works towards obtaining his Advanced Certificate for Executives in Management, Innovation, and Technology (ACE).
“In my work as a patent attorney, I supported the innovation process for years. I really wanted to see what it was like to actually do the work,” he concludes. “I wanted to focus on the process of innovation rather than a specific area of technology and find a way to marry our company’s opportunities with our capabilities. MIT was such a key element for me in getting acclimated and giving me the tools I needed for this new position. And now I want to understand even more. Knowledge is power, and it applies to so many areas.”
Learn more about MIT Sloan Executive Certificates.