How DuPont Built an Enterprise Capability for High-Uncertainty Growth

DuPont is a global leader in materials science with a long history of disciplined R&D and operational excellence. Like many large enterprises, DuPont recognized that its traditional innovation systems, while rigorous, were not optimized for high-uncertainty growth opportunities.

Beginning in 2022, DuPont partnered with us to embed the Precoil EMT System (Extract-Map-Test) to complement existing Stage-Gate, Agile, and Six Sigma processes, without disrupting what already worked.

Early wins included:

Launching structured EMT cohorts
Training hundreds of practitioners and leaders
Establishing a shared language for evidence, assumptions, and learning
Making faster, more confident Commit / Correct / Cut decisions

The Challenge

DuPont’s leaders faced a familiar challenge:

Innovation processes were excellent at execution, but weaker at early discovery
Big bets were often made before the riskiest assumptions were surfaced
Customer insight arrived too late in the process
Teams were “doing projects right,” but not always doing the right projects

As their Chief of Staff summarized internally:

Most failures weren’t technical, they were driven by flawed commercial and customer assumptions.

What was missing was a repeatable way to de-risk growth decisions early, without slowing the organization down.

Previous Attempts

DuPont had already invested heavily in innovation modernization before working with Precoil:

2016 – Stage-Gate & Six Sigma: Highly structured and disciplined, but customer learning came late.
2018 – Hypothesis-Driven Pilots: Early Learning Plan concepts emerged through grassroots efforts.
2020 – Agile-Adaptive: Scrum pilots and Lean Learning Loops showed promise, but adoption was fragmented.

These efforts demonstrated what was possible, but not how to scale it. Innovation often remained:

Project-specific
Dependent on individual champions
Disconnected from portfolio-level decision making

The Precoil Solution

Precoil partnered with DuPont to integrate the EMT System (called Lean Innovation internally) at enterprise scale.

Rather than introducing another methodology, Precoil focused on installing decision infrastructure, a shared way to extract risk, test assumptions, and make defensible choices under uncertainty.

The approach included:

A customized decision system aligned to DuPont’s strategy and governance
Learning Plans as the core artifact for evidence-based decision making
Coaching as the primary scaling mechanism
Executive sponsorship through a “two-in-the-box” business and technical leadership model

Phased rollout:

Structured Cohorts
Precoil-led cohorts focused on real growth initiatives, building early wins and shared language.
Internal Coach-Led Scaling
DuPont trained internal coaches to sustain and expand adoption.
Embedded DNA
Test and Learn practices integrated into project management, portfolio reviews, and leadership routines.

Throughout, the emphasis was on co-creation, meeting teams where they were, and building confidence through evidence, not persuasion.

Tangible Results

Between 2022 and 2025, DuPont saw measurable outcomes across capability, culture, and business impact.

Capability Built

300+ practitioners trained
40+ senior leaders enabled
50+ internal coaches certified
35+ growth projects impacted
100% lines of business coverage

Business Impact (across 35 growth projects)

26% Commit
Customer-validated value propositions with strong sponsorship and competitive advantage
31% Correct
Early course correction based on customer, market, or value-chain evidence
43% Cut
Projects discontinued early due to lack of viable path forward, liberating capital and talent

The net effect: faster learning, earlier decisions, and significantly reduced waste.

Revenue Impacts

Analysis of the 35+ projects who applied the EMT System resulted in:

$24MM in New Growth generated from the combined 57% of the projects (Commit + Correct) that launched in the market.
$12MM saved on the bottom line from re-deploying resources from the 43% of the Cut projects.

Ripple Effect

The impact extended well beyond individual projects.

Innovation became a shared cultural expectation, not a specialist function
Leaders shifted from asking “Are we on track?” to “What have we de-risked?”
Teams learned to fall in love with growth, not projects
Psychological safety increased through rituals like Dead Projects Day
Portfolio conversations became more evidence-driven and less political

Going forward, Precoil EMT is now DuPont’s decision standard approach for early-stage and high-uncertainty growth work.

Prepare One Decision

What decision are you preparing right now?

If your organization is stuck on a high uncertainty bet, the problem is usually not speed, it’s unclear evidence.

Precoil can get you started with one decision for a clear Commit, Correct, or Cut outcome before more time or money is spent.

Case Study - DuPont