The Biggest Predictor of Business Growth Is Behavior

New IDEO research reveals a gap in the behaviors that most drive growth: long-term vision, rapid experimentation, and team autonomy—with only 10% of leaders saying their company excels at the combination.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IDEO, the global design and innovation company, today announced the IDEO Innovation Quotient (IDEO IQ), a new report measuring how workplace behaviors drive business performance across 100 of the world’s largest companies. Those with the highest IDEO IQ scores earned nearly $20 billion in profit last year—50% higher than average and three times more than those ranked at the bottom.

The IDEO IQ surveyed 266 leaders in product and innovation roles at 100 of the world’s largest companies across the Media & Technology, Healthcare, and Consumer Goods sectors. The report is the first of its kind to draw a direct line between how companies operate internally and their financial performance. Companies were surveyed and scored based on five core behaviors, which IDEO calls the “POWER” dynamic:

• Perspective: How much organizations anticipate future trends and disruptions
• Ownership: How much autonomy teams have
• Wavelength: How collaborative the culture is
• Experimentation: How quickly businesses test new ideas
• Resonance: How significantly organizations center customer needs in decisions and operations

These cultural scores were then directly correlated with business success metrics.

“Many companies understand their customers, which is critical, but far fewer have built the behaviors to act on that understanding,” said Mike Peng, CEO of IDEO. “As more organizations rely on technology for answers, advantage comes from looking further ahead, drawing on human insight, anticipating what’s next, and exploring the edges of creativity. The companies that do this are the ones taking the lead.”

The $10 billion difference

The companies pulling ahead aren’t just moving faster—they’re combining long-term perspective with the ability to act quickly. Leaders at these top-performing companies are also twice as likely to believe their organization will thrive over the next decade—and six times more likely to feel better positioned than competitors to meet future customer needs. Those in the top quintile reported:

• Nearly 3× higher revenue growth.
• Nearly 2× higher customer growth.
• $5 billion more in annual profit (vs. the average company).
• $10 billion more in annual profit (vs. bottom-quintile companies).

“It’s not that companies don’t know what they need to do,” said Becca Carroll, IDEO’s Chief Strategy Officer. “The hard part is building it into the DNA of the organization, giving teams permission to test before a concept is perfect, and making space to look beyond the next quarter.”

The majority of the leaders we surveyed (58%) report strong performance in being customer-centric—nearly triple the rate for experimentation. Far fewer say their organization consistently acts on that understanding.

This disconnect shows up most clearly in AI adoption. Only 41% of leaders say they’ve successfully adopted AI to meet customer needs, and 26% admit they’ve been too slow in adopting it overall. Companies that excel at both Perspective and Experimentation are more likely to report that AI is improving customer outcomes (52%). They are also more likely to report using AI to support profit growth (28% compared to a 16% baseline).

The opportunity gap

IDEO’s research also identified the three behaviors that drive the strongest outcomes: Experimentation, Ownership, and Perspective. They are also the ones that many companies struggle with the most. The data reveals a gap between intention and action:

• Only 21% strongly agree their organizations test early versions of products and experiences with real users (Experimentation).
• Only 29% strongly agree their teams have freedom to try new things (Ownership).
• Only 31% strongly agree their company balances short and long-term bets (Perspective).

Leaders were more likely to have embraced Wavelength and Resonance, both crucial to success, but because they are more common behaviors, they don’t offer the same opportunity to create an outsized impact.

The IDEO IQ report will be published annually to track how the world’s largest companies evolve across these behaviors over time. It provides a framework for leaders to assess their organization’s archetype and identify opportunities for growth. To download the full report and assess your organization’s capabilities, visit https://www.ideo.com/iq.

About the research

On behalf of IDEO, B2B research specialists NewtonX surveyed 266 business leaders in product- and innovation-focused roles from 100 of the world’s biggest companies across Healthcare, Media & Technology, and Consumer Goods industries. Criteria included companies with $1 billion in revenue and 10,000+ employees, with the IDEO IQ entry restricted to the first 100 companies that responded to surveys between December 2025 and January 2026. All respondents completed the survey anonymously and independently of their employer. Where company-level IDEO IQ scores were analyzed, only companies with three or more respondents were reported (n=59 companies).

About IDEO

IDEO is a global design and innovation company. IDEO partners with organizations to tackle complex challenges, uncover new opportunities, and create meaningful and positive impact across business, society, and culture. From designing iconic products and services to crafting new ventures and building creative capabilities within organizations, IDEO’s work is rooted in empathy and experimentation. Part of kyu, a collective of strategically curated creative organizations, IDEO has offices in the US, UK, and China. Learn more at www.ideo.com.