Driving Innovation Capability Across De Beers Group

Client Overview

De Beers Group is a global leader in diamond exploration, mining, retail, and marketing. With operations spanning five continents, the company is renowned for its commitment to excellence, sustainability, and innovation in the natural diamond industry.

Project Overview

To future-proof its operations and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving luxury and mining landscape, De Beers Group engaged in a transformation initiative to embed innovation into the heart of its business.

The Group sought to embed a more systematic and scalable approach to innovation across its business units.

My Scope

I was brought in to lead the design and delivery of a group-wide innovation capability program that is anchored in human-centered design and co-creation, to empower teams across its global business units.

The scope included:

• Innovation Capability Building
• Fostering a Design-Led Culture
• Strategic Design Consulting

Challenge

Although innovation was identified as a strategic priority, De Beers lacked a shared language, tools, and structured process to activate innovation across its business.

Teams were siloed, innovation efforts were ad hoc, and there was a need to democratize creative problem-solving at scale.

The goal was to:

• Foster a culture of design-led innovation
• Empower employees with practical tools and mindsets to solve complex challenges
• Create a unified innovation strategy and framework to guide innovation efforts across diverse teams
• Accelerate idea development and cross-functional collaboration

My Role & Approach

Working closely with the Group Strategy and Innovation leadership, I took on a hybrid role as a design strategist, facilitator, and capability builder.

My focus was on creating scalable tools and experiences that would both enable and inspire innovation across different domains.

Key Deliverables

1. Innovation Framework Development

We designed a bespoke Innovation Framework tailored to De Beers’ strategic priorities and operational realities.

It is a group-wide model that defines what the innovation phases at De Beers are, geared towards the company’s values, ambitions and industry context.

The framework provides:

• A clear definition of innovation aligned with business goals
• A phased process for opportunity identification, ideation, testing, and scaling
• Governance structures and KPIs to measure innovation success

2. Innovation Playbook Creation

To operationalize the framework, we developed a comprehensive Innovation Playbook which provides:

• Modular guide for each stage of the innovation process
• Tools, templates and methods grounded in design thinking, lean startup and systems thinking
• Case studies and examples from within De Beers and beyond
• Templates for journey mapping, stakeholder alignment, and rapid experimentation

3. Cross-Business Unit Implementation

The framework and playbook were rolled out across five business units, including:

• Exploration & Mining
• Diamond Trading
• Brand Marketing & Retail
• Technology
• Corporate Affairs & Sustainability

4. Pitch Deck Template & Innovation Tools

To support internal storytelling and stakeholder buy-in, we designed a customisable Pitch Deck Template:

• Structured to communicate innovation concepts clearly and persuasively
• Used by teams to present ideas and demos to senior leadership and secure funding or resources
• Includes sections for problem framing, market share, solution overview, business impact, funding ask and project timeline

Each unit adapted the tools to their context while maintaining alignment with the overall innovation strategy.

5. Co-creation Workshops

We designed and facilitated co-creation workshops to activate innovation around real-world business challenges. These workshops helped in:

• Identifying high-impact innovation opportunities
• Building cross-functional collaboration
• Rapidly prototyping and testing new ideas

These sessions brought together employees from different geographies and disciplines, fostering a shared language and approach to innovation while building trust and momentum through problem-solving.

6. Capability Building and Mentorship

To ensure long-term impact, we mentored over 100 employees in design-led innovation practices through:

• Innovation sprints and learning cohorts
• Hands-on training in human-centered design, systems thinking, and agile experimentation
• One-on-one coaching for innovation leads and champions
• E-learning circles to sustain momentum and share insights

7. Capability Building

As part of our efforts to strengthen innovation capability within De Beers Group, I organised and implemented an Innovation Day — a dedicated event to celebrate our innovation wins across the business.

The event brought together teams from different functions to showcase their projects, share lessons learned, and spark new ideas through open dialogue.

More than just a celebration, Innovation Day helped reinforce a culture of experimentation and collaboration, inspiring colleagues to see innovation not as a side activity, but as a core driver of value and growth for the Group.

Overall Business Impact

Impact Area	Result
Innovation Strategy Alignment	Unified strategy, framework and tools adopted across the Group.
Scalable Tools	The Innovation Playbook is now a go-to resource adopted across 5 business units, used by teams and senior leaders.
Talent Development	Built a network of internal innovation champions who continue to lead change within their domains.
Employee Engagement	100+ employees trained and actively applying design-led innovation mindsets and new ways of working.
Idea Generation	20+ viable new concepts developed through workshops and prototyping sprints.
Culture Shift	Sparked a mindset change, moving innovation from a siloed activity to an inclusive, cross-functional collaborative process with increased openness to experimentation.
Business Outcomes and Strategic Value	Enabled the creation of new business models and tech services, sustainability concepts and operational improvements, all co-developed using the new framework. Innovation efforts aligned with sustainability and long-term growth.

Testimonials

“The Innovation Framework gave us clarity and confidence to pursue bold ideas. It’s become a cornerstone of how we work.” — CEO, Forevermark

“The Innovation Playbook is our go-to resource. It’s practical, inspiring, and helps us move fast.” — Innovation Lead, Technology

Conclusion 

This initiative transformed innovation from a siloed effort into a company-wide capability. By combining strategic design, hands-on mentorship and scalable tools, we helped embed a culture of innovation that is both human-centered and business driven.

What I Learned 

Innovation thrives when it’s not confined to a department, but embedded in how people think and work.

Building trust, creating shared language, and making space for experimentation were key to helping De Beers reimagine what’s possible, at every level of the organization.