Innovation, the application of new solutions meeting new requirements for new and existing market needs, accomplished through products, processes, services, technologies, and ideas readily available to markets, governments and society. All very well, as long as you are creative, courageous, bright, forward thinking, audacious, perceptive and have an innovative culture within your company. Not easy but achievable amongst the continuous need for change and improvement that has seen the above catch cry become voluminous, as companies rush to embrace anything new, no matter its effectiveness. Are all companies innovating or are some dying slowly or just ambling along, not accomplishing anything? The redundancy factor, not bringing out something new every quarter, has seen the competitive pressure rise to an unsustainable level where most companies are challenged by their knowledge or staff to keep up.
Today innovation is focussed on the technology we use and the value of that focus, can be observed in the dollars traded in companies such as Apple or Google. Today innovation is focused on inventions that make our communications easier, come up with ways to entertain us on the move and interrupt us at every opportunity to sell us something new. It feels like this wave of innovation is being ridden by a few select individuals with almost supernatural powers of invention like Jonathan Ive of Apple, Diane Green of VMware, Caleb Chung of Pleo, Dan Olschwang of Jump Tap and Martin Eberhard of Tesla Motors.
Yet innovation isn't all about the end product and accumulating accolades and shares to make you wealthy, it's about having the belief and confidence in yourself to bring about change. It's about being able to observe change and adapt solutions that make your life easier. It can be a process to make your mail room more efficient because everyone in the office spends too much time organising their own. It can be using better technology so your meetings and the subsequent action items are collated quicker, providing shorter and more effective meetings. It can be a raft of things that speed up, make things more convenient, help others to do their job better and generally make the world a better place.
Innovation is about eyes wide open and having the courage to speak up and use what you have to improve. If someone had pointed out the folly of Blockbuster, so focused on market share, growing to 5000 stores at their peak, that a simple idea of sending DVDs by mail would totally disrupt their model, that person would be hailed as an innovator. Instead it was Reed Hastings of Netflix who seized the moment and it was Reed Hastings who nearly suffered the same fate when streaming started to gain momentum. Luckily Netflix have reinvented themselves as a viable cable and streaming competition to companies such as HBO, by embracing an innovative culture based on employees not afraid to speak out.
So while companies may cry the catch phrase loud and try to keep up with the competition, there is much you can do individually to be seen as innovative and creative within your own sphere of influence. Be aware of the inefficiencies in your work life, be open eyed and perceptive to changes, have the courage to speak up and not be daunted by failure and finally, be willing to take the accolades as an innovator.
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