Mankind’s most disruptive innovation

“Language is arguably the most disruptive innovation in all of evolution.”

— Geoffrey Moore, The Infinite Staircase

Moore, author of the groundbreaking tech-industry marketing book Crossing the Chasm in 1991 and one of the most brilliant and influential business strategists of his generation, opens a chapter of his new book with this breathtaking statement. In The Infinite Staircase Moore diverts from his typical business-focused futurism and instead sets his eye on nothing less than the meaning of life, exploring metaphysics, ethics, and the universe.

His chapter “Language” describes one of the “steps on the Staircase” that, considered one step at a time and then building on each other — from physics, chemistry and biology through language, narrative, analytics and theory — allow Moore to help his readers understand “what the universe is telling us.” With that opening statement, Moore establishes Language as a critical step on the final ascent. He continues…

“Without it we are necessarily confined within our own space and time. With language, we are able to span continents and centuries, connecting ourselves to a much larger network of endeavor, participation, and meaning.”

Wow.

I’ll leave a deeper dive into this fascinating and thought-provoking book for another time, but I was thunderstruck by Moore’s high appraisal of language as an innovation. As the founder and owner of a digital creative agency that specializes in helping our clients communicate their innovations, the idea that language is evolution’s most disruptive innovation stopped me in my tracks! And it should go without saying that I agree, and I highly recommend reading The Infinite Staircase yourself.

Elexicon has always positioned “innovation” and “communication” closely together in our hearts and minds, and view communication as critical to the process of developing powerful ideas, innovating them into new products, and selling them into the right markets. It’s what inspired our agency name, in fact: This was 1999 and “e-” was the prefix for all things digital and tech-y; amalgamated with “lexicon,” or “language”). And our home page’s “what we do” statement concludes simply, “We communicate innovation.”

Moore’s words and book gave me an added boost of inspiration, and I’m looking forward writing more about communicating innovation in the coming weeks and months, starting with my next article, Innovation is all about communication.