Be the first, Be unique, & Be different …
No innovation no life, no innovation no future… these were the words we needed to hear today to refuel for the rest of our startup journey. After recent constant ups and downs, Ale and I needed a bit of inspiration to go on with Nifty, so we watched Jean-Claude Biver talk on innovation and creativity at Lift, Geneva 2011.
No innovation no life, no innovation no future!
Biver, starts simple, by talking about the importance of innovation and creativity. With his cute French accent, he reminds us that we all had creativity from the day we were born, we were all creative when we were 2 years old and only later when we grow up and get education, we slowly enter a pre-defined frame and simply lose our innovative spirit. Biver emphasizes on how innovation is more powerful than knowledge. With the new technology anybody can get knowledge, but people normally can not learn innovation and creativity.
Be the Black Sheep
We need to think different, to be the first, and unique. Biver believes creativity is a way of thinking: therefore, to nurture creativity and innovation, we need to create the right environment that encourages people to be creative. It means we must permit people to do mistakes, when we ask people to do lots of mistakes they be come very active and they start to trust themselves and take initiatives. Innovation brings uncertainty. It is like a vision, it is not reality at the moment, it is the reality we have to make happen, and to have people to take risks and be active we should reward mistakes. At the end Biver says we should not forget that innovation and creativity are the future for every company and every human being, and there is the no sense in repeating and doing like others.
Once again we remembered…
We both always want to be unique: that is why, almost inadvertently, we started building a business of enormous complexity that is based on a great and unique solution, not just “good enough”. Thank you Biver, you are an inspiration and we hope to meet you in person one day.
Don’t forget to watch Biver’s talk
Firouzeh @Nifty
Nifty is a personalized online shopping experience application, enabling shoppers to buy the right size and perfect fit.
