Founder, LEKI Electric Motorcycles
Disruptive Innovation: Strategies for a Successful Enterprise
Harvard Business School, 2023
At 21, most people are just starting to find their footing. At 21, Cain Cooke was leading a boardroom full of real estate veterans – people who had been in the game longer than he’d been alive. Back then, the fresh-faced boy from the southern suburbs stood in shiny shoes and a gold jacket at the Glenelg office of Century 21, ready to take charge as the new State Manager…or so he thought.
“I distinctly remember making the ascent to the boardroom and freezing on the stairs,” Cain recalls.
“The realisation hit – I was about to walk into a room of people with 150 years of combined experience, following a seasoned State Manager who had all the answers,” he says.
It was a pivotal moment that shaped Cain’s entire approach to leadership. Rather than pretending to have the perfect answers, he started asking the perfect questions; a mindset that has become the cornerstone of his leadership philosophy.
“Even if I know the answer, very rarely will I give it to you directly. The answer to questions 20 years ago, five years ago, last year or last week changes so rapidly. If you hold onto the answer, not the discovery through the questions, you’ll never reach the best solution.”
Same, same but different
Before founding LEKI, the game-changing electric motorcycle revolutionising the way we move, Cain’s career spanned diverse industries. He was part of the explosive growth of Boost Juice and the early Specsavers team, led transformation projects at Discovery Parks, ran a not-for-profit, and scaled and sold an IT company. Proving the power of lasting relationships, he’s also still Chair of the Real Estate Industry in SA.
The brands might have been different, but the fundamentals of business, Cain says, remain the same.
“People are the heart of any business. Being a great leader brings this all together. Add your personal superpower, and you can play anywhere.”
Naturally curious, keen to disrupt
Having built a career based on growth and transformation, it was no surprise Cain applied for an ILF grant to study Disruptive Innovation at Harvard, which he completed in June 2023.
The course equipped him with a detailed disruption framework and the confidence to go all-in.
“LEKI is a textbook case of the Disruptive Innovation theory in action. We’ve got a smart roadmap for entering and shaking up the motorcycle market.”
With a focus on affordability, a direct-to-consumer model and a modular construction, LEKI is set to disrupt the EV industry – and keep evolving to stay ahead.
For Cain, studying at Harvard through an ILF scholarship did more than just equip him to disrupt industries. It opened doors for South Australia on the global stage.
“It opens up the world, in real terms but also in your thinking. The benefit is not just through the connections you make but the way you see the world and how you do business.”
From the young man with shiny shoes and a case of imposter syndrome to a leader at the forefront of the electric motorcycle industry, Cain’s journey shows the power of questioning the conventional, embracing disruption, and always – relentlessly – searching for a better way
