{"id":7971,"date":"2026-06-18T19:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moresourcing.com\/leaders-at-all-levels-how-dbs-bank-makes-everyone-an-innovator\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T19:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:51:15","slug":"leaders-at-all-levels-how-dbs-bank-makes-everyone-an-innovator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moresourcing.com\/en\/leaders-at-all-levels-how-dbs-bank-makes-everyone-an-innovator\/","title":{"rendered":"How DBS Bank Makes Everyone an Innovator"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DBS Bank believes that innovation is critical to its survival, and to reinforce that objective, it made innovation a KPI representing 20% of every team and individual\u2019s performance review. <\/p>\n

In this episode of Leaders at All Levels<\/cite>, hosts Katherine W. Isaacs and Michele Zanini speak with Bidyut Dumra, group head of innovation and future of work at DBS, to learn how he\u2019s helped turn innovation from a top-down mandate to one that actually grows from the bottom up. DBS organized its entire operating model around cross-functional \u201ccustomer journey\u201d teams, led by what Dumra calls \u201cmini CEOs\u201d who have the authority and funding to make real decisions to meet customers\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

Dumra also explains how one customer\u2019s credit card loss sparked an insight that changed everything: Customers don\u2019t think in terms of processes<\/em>; they think in terms of intents<\/em>. That single moment, he said, launched the journey-based model that now drives the bank\u2019s organization and growth.<\/p>\n

The DBS Playbook: Borrow These Ideas<\/h3>\n
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  • DBS benchmarks itself against tech leaders Google, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, LinkedIn, and Facebook instead of other banks, with the goal of being \u201cdigital to the core.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • DBS\u2019s transformation team has a playbook and training at the ready to help teams achieve their KPIs. \u201cThe skilling is available to every employee,\u201d Dumra said.<\/li>\n
  • Some of the bank\u2019s products launched without a business case, with the case built retrospectively, one year after launch. \u201c[If] I know exactly what\u2019s going to happen, I\u2019m not really pushing the needle,\u201d Dumra said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Hosts Issacs and Zanini dig into how DBS makes distributed leadership work at scale \u2014 and what you can borrow from their playbook.<\/p>\n

    Video Credits<\/h4>\n

    Bidyut Dumra<\/strong> is the group head of innovation and future of work at DBS Bank.<\/p>\n

    Kate W. Isaacs<\/strong> is a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.<\/p>\n

    Michele Zanini<\/strong> is coauthor of the Wall Street Journal<\/cite> bestseller Humanocracy<\/cite> (Harvard Business Review Press, 2020).<\/p>\n

    M. Shawn Read<\/strong> is the multimedia editor at MIT Sloan Management Review<\/cite>.<\/p>\n