Innovate or Die
I wish I could take credit for this title, but I can’t. I borrowed it from a presentation I attended last week by Innovation expert, Susan Cullen, President of Quantum Learning Solutions. She had some terrific things to say about breathing new life into your business (“Innovation is oxygen”), and some surprising things to boot. Like Rule #1: Never ask your customers what you should do.
Automobile inventor Henry Ford said, “If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse.”
Apple computer guru Steve Jobs said, “You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.”
That’s not to say your customers don’t have good insights to contribute; it’s just that they are focused on their immediate needs. It’s up to Innovators to give them something they don’t even know they need yet.
Cullen also tripped us up on an audience participation exercise (which I usually hate) that ended with a “why didn’t I think of that” moment.
She asked us to stand up, turn to our table partner, and give them a good once-over glance. Then we had to turn our backs on them, quickly change three things about ourselves, and then turn back ‘round again to see what changes we noticed about each other.
I took off my jacket and bracelet and pushed my hair behind my ears.
My table partner Pepper took off her jacket, buttoned her top blouse button, and put her hair behind her ears.
When Cullen asked us to turn around again and change three more things, there were groans all around (we were running out of things to take off and really, it was only 8:30 in the morning…).
Fortunately, she was just kidding. But she did ask, by a show of hands, how many people in the room created change by taking something away.
The majority did.
That’s when she brought it to our attention that most people interpret the directive to “change something” as the need to “lose” something, to take something away.
Cullen suggested adding something instead. She “changed” her appearance by picking up a water bottle, glass, and piece of paper.
Point made: Change (Innovation) = Growth, not loss.
Cullen cited a McKinsey & Company survey that showed 70 percent of senior executives named Innovation as one of the top three drivers of growth for their organization in the next 3-5 years.
But yet…
Sixty-five percent of those same execs are disillusioned in their ability to stimulate Innovation.
That’s because they’re not clued in to Innovation Rule #2: Equip everyone in your organization with creative tools.
Innovation has to be an on-going practice. Your “team” wants to be asked for ideas, but they also need to know that their ideas will be heard and acted upon.
That will require (1) developing a process to select and define the purpose of the change you want and (2) creating the environment where you can take ideas, pull out the very best, and apply them to the Innovative process.
(President Woodrow Wilson noted, “I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow.”).
Which leads us to Rule #3: Leaders are key.
Organizations need to give leaders and managers the skills they need to develop Innovation teams. Teams that think, challenge, and think it through again.
Paraphrasing Gen. George S. Patton, “If everyone is in agreement with an idea, someone isn’t thinking.”
So keep your jacket on, stay observant, and add some of your own ideas to the change you want to see.
Anita Alvare (bio)/Alvare Associates/610-520-6140
Susan Cullen, Quantum Learning Solutions, Innovation, The Main Line Chamber of Commerce Make More, Save More Series
