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How Innovative Are You?

Read (0) / Post Comments | Posted: Friday, April 17, 2009
Boy...talk about a buzzword.  Innovate, innovate, innovate.  You'd think by the casual nature by with which companies use the word "innovation" that it was supplanting the dollar as the next currency for the United States (we all know it's gonna be the Euro - but that's an entirely different matter).  But what do people mean when they use the buzzword "innovate" or "innovation?"  Frankly, not a whole lot anymore.

Back in the early 90's I used to listen to The Red Hot Chili Peppers.  They were good.  Then they became mainstream...and they became mediocre once they were discovered.  They succumbed to trying to become more acceptable to the general population.  Back when Seinfeld was new, it was also a great show.  The last few years before cutting off, the show became mediocre...once they became discovered.  They accepted that they needed to keep viewers watching, not reveal the beauty of their original premise. 

Back when innovation actually meant something other than the mediocrity it stands for now, it was good.  But now, in the "mainstream" psyche of culture, the word innovation has been reduced to a verb that applies to everything and anything...and yet, very few people understand what it really means to innovate.  Very few people understand the principles of what thinking outside the box means anymore.  They are so focused on the "outside of the box"-ness of their idea that they've forgone the out of the box thought.  They stop short and, wanting to display the innovation, that they forget what the innovation is all about.

Many years ago I was walking through the University of Arizona hallways with my fellow classmates.  And a thought struck on of us to which was said: "Isn't it cool? We're all writers!"  At that exact moment I realized that we were not writers...we were only talking about it. 

Here's the thought: When are you going to stop talking about innovation?  And when are you going to be innovative?

Now, a friend of mine, Jon Hirst, has got the thing right...he still keeps innovation in its place and respects the power of what can be done.  That is to say, Jon doesn't just talk about innovation... (or mediocrity that can be assigned to it)...he is innovation.  Check Jon and his innovation strategies out at:

http://www.innovationinmission.com



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