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What is the most important lesson you learned regarding innovation
"What is the most important lesson you learned regarding innovation"
This year's request resulted in a record number of responses - nearly 60 of you shared your thoughts and insights, which were better than ever. Thank you! Responses came from all over our innovative planet, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela - very cool. There's no question in my mind that innovation is a worldwide phenomenon!
Here are the insights you have gained about innovation during the last year:
Innovate the way in which you think
That innovation is much less than people tend to believe, and much more than what it would be expected to be! That the most complicated part to innovate is your brain. That having as many recipe books as feasible does not exempt you from cooking. That if you want to lead in creativity you have to lead creatively.
-- José Manuel dos Santos, InnovagencyInnovation vs. creativity
Brainstorming and other toolkits are merely techniques to resurrect our creativity. Quite surprising, or maybe I should not be surprised at all, there are still a lot of people who are still unclear on the difference between creativity and innovation, or which comes first. Some even think they are similar! Basically, if we do not allow ideas to arise (being creative), how can we put these ideas to create profit and value (the definition of innovation!)? If we continue to kill new creative ideas for the fear of losing something we already got, we would be losing the chance of experiencing something newer in life!
-- Dr. Michael S.J. Butterworth, OutOfTheBox1
Never stop learning about innovation
I learned that there are “thousands of additional lessons” to learn about innovation! After nearly 20 years in the “innovation and creativity” space, I still “yearn to learn” how to foster more, better and faster innovation. Every day and every week, I continue to learn more from resources like InnovationTools.com. I’ve also learned the importance of focusing on sustainable “continuous” innovation. SolutionPeople often makes it easy for organizations and individuals to be innovative once; the big challenge is to replicate innovation and repeat success continually. If we synthesize the lessons from past successes (and failures) and apply them to current and future innovation opportunities, continuous innovation becomes a reality.
-- Gerald Haman, SolutionPeople.com & the Chicago ThinkubatorThe incredible power of "what if..."
Keep saying "what if..." Like, "what if I give you more than just one response?" Though it may be faster to communicate with those whom you've established a rapport, great things come from the struggle to communicate with people who do not think like you.
-- Evan Tishuk
Never forget the power of questions. In a recent interview Google CEO, Eric
Schmidt, said “We run the company by questions, not by answers.” Innovative
leaders put the emphasis on questioning, not telling. Ask fundamental,
challenging questions and encourage others to do the same. For example: “What
business are we in? Why do customers buy our services? What is our real
added value? Is there a better way to do this?” The style and type of
questions matter. Don't ask aggressive, inquisitorial questions, such as: “What
went wrong? Why did you screw up?” Instead, ask broad questions, like these: “What lessons can we learn? What are the opportunities for us here?”
-- Paul Sloane, Destination Innovation
Five rules for successful innovation
Successful business innovations that drive growth require:1. Vision to create new products, business models or processes that make a difference and create new markets
2. Systematic processes and rigor that stimulate creativity and learning to execute on the vision
3. Reward and recognition system for teams to take measured risks and experiment
4. Focus on clear and present customer needs, the market facts, and the intangible
5. Growth-oriented leadership that is decisive, inclusive, focused, takes risks, and has market expertise.
-- Sanjay Dalal, Creativity & Innovation Driving Business Blog
Spend more time clearly defining the problem
Albert Einstein once said, "If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it." The problem with most businesses is that they spend 1 minute defining the problem and 59 minutes finding solutions. When I work through the creative process with organizations, I get them to spend more time finding the right opportunities rather than chasing problems they think need to be solved.
-- Stephen Shapiro, author of Goal-Free Living and 24/7 Innovation
Look outside the company for great ideas
Two primary lessons: first, the importance and value of the open innovation approach. Looking outside the company and being willing to source great ideas from anywhere is truly a break through approach. It fosters stamping out the NIH (not invented here) syndrome, the single biggest barrier to thinking and acting innovatively that most companies encounter in my experience. Many great examples abound of companies large and small that have embraced open innovation. Secondly, innovation is a process and like any other process it can be streamlined and improved using Lean techniques and even some of the elements of Six Sigma. Faster and more efficient innovation and product development processes are critical for companies to develop and maintain a competitive advantage in today's global economy. Using these continuous improvement tools is a no-brainer for any company that's serious about growth.
-- Charlie Alter, Magnet Client Services
Innovation must be everyone's job
In order for an Innovation program to work in any company, the innovation process must be a ubiquitous tool for all levels and all facets of the company, from the company maintenance worker to the CEO. No one can be excluded and no one is exempt. Everyone must try to contribute, to think in newly developed ways to incubate creative processes. This is how any company will continue to foster growth and a climate of interdependence. It can never be us vs. them, whether the "us" is hourly manufacturing workers and the "them" is salaried marketing exempts, or the "us" is the company and the "them" is the competition. We are interconnected and must innovate systematically, utilizing all the parts and making a new engine together. Don't bash the competition, take what is working for them and build on it. Don't brush off an hourly worker's idea as a complaint about working conditions. Take the idea and polish and make it something really worthwhile. Do this together by really listening without judgment. The social interaction and value free considerations are what will really drive your Innovation process to become the force driving your company.
-- Darlene J. Waldmiller, EMEDCO
