Innovation is Rock!

Approach it musically! A fiery playlist from an innovative group of rockers gives you (oddly enough) an overview of what’s happening in innovation.

Radical and incremental innovation, definitions, systemic perspective, and “the effect we’re after” — even I, who work with innovation, get confused by less. Then I realized: it’s really just about making convoluted definitions simple. The solution was a playlist. On Spotify.

Pretty chaotic
But first, think about it: We’re exposed to unimaginable amounts of opinions about innovation every day, even across professional, social, and academic platforms. This is great!

Because in business, innovation is crucial if you want to remain relevant and create value for end-users and owners. But methods, processes, frameworks, and strategies related to innovation are like a huge record store where we can dig in and find what fits your need. You can get a little overwhelmed, no one can catch everything, and everyone has their own twist — often on the same things. So, yes, even I, who work with innovation and design for many different companies, get confused sometimes.

Enough with the pictures
Back to rock! (Feels better already?) To create some order in the confusion, I tagged innovation onto rock. An experiment, sure, but just think about it:

Rock itself started as a radical innovation, a rebellion against the established order. With Elvis, young people got an idol who spoke their own language. Since I’m pretty excited about both rock and innovation, here we are:

Imagine images and sounds of The Cure, Pink Floyd, Foo fighters, Creedence, and AC/DC. It doesn’t require many nerve impulses in the brain, right?

Or Slash, PJ Harvey, Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin, and Bono. There are thousands to choose from, and you certainly remember many of them. You remember what instruments the bands have and who plays them, you remember the songs and albums, which styles they have been through, and probably some pretty trivial facts.

We remember the rockers because they are visual for both eyes and ears and tell stories, and because they give us feelings that create memories. And innovation? Although many are passionate about it, it’s pretty anonymous and abstract in comparison, we often have to look up to distinguish different concepts from each other. (Just read the beginning of the article again…)

Here’s the rock memo list
A mixtape with innovation tags! No, I can’t include everything, there are many more tags and songs that deserve to be on a serious rock memo list. As always, there’s no room for everything, and some things are hard to choose away. I’m also just an eager amateur and absolutely subjective. Although the order should match the dynamics of the music, it’s just as good on “shuffle,” and all the innovation tags stand strong alone. Have the list on hand when you rock your way through a whole evening. It’s almost guaranteed that you’ll learn something. If not, I simply recommend: Repeat!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/78lq62KOc1jAGqBD6zs5x4?si=99605dff3b3f4401

1. The definition. Innovation is often defined as something new or something that has been improved and is actually used by someone somewhere and that has given value and effect to both users and those who have invested in it. Value creation and improved quality of life are the goals of innovation. The Beatles as a band and their music were something completely new and have provided enormous amounts of value.
-Song 1: Come Together

2. Systemic perspective on innovation in the organization. According to the new ISO56000 series, innovation in organizations should be managed at a systemic level. The purpose of this is to coordinate innovation work across the agency and to ensure that the innovation projects carried out are actually qualified. With this, a structured and targeted investment is achieved. Concept albums are characterized by the fact that all the songs revolve around the same basic theme. It is systemic, holistic, and coherent. David Bowie’s album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and all the songs are about an androgynous alien who lands on a damned planet and becomes a rock star.
-Song 2: Starman

3. Possibilities and intent. Innovation should come from somewhere or be to a described need. As part of a strategy toward a goal, new technology can be explored, a startup that has come a long way, or other opportunities that appear. The electric guitar bears much of the responsibility for rock, and Jimi Hendrix is one of the most enthusiastic players who has given meaning to the instrument.
-Song 3: All Along The Watchtower

4. Radical innovation. When we get products or services that change our lives and create new markets, like the internet and the steam engine. Elvis paved the way and was a great inspiration for many of the first rock bands to follow. Elvis himself was a radical innovation that defined a whole new market, a new genre, and rock.
-Song 4: Jailhouse Rock

5. Incremental innovation. When a product or service is launched in the market and creates value, challenges or improvement potentials will often gradually arise in line with changes and new needs from the market. These, in turn, become opportunities that can be developed as innovations and influence the products back so that they continue to be relevant, attractive, and better. Bruce Springsteen is one of those who has hung out and adapted to the audience while changing life phases himself.
-Song 5: Dancing In The Dark

6. Interdisciplinary collaboration. Innovation succeeds well with interdisciplinary collaboration in the various development phases. A good band and a good song come from good collaboration and a good combination of different instruments that lift or complement each other. Nirvana had the ability to make room for all the instruments in the songs. Especially Nirvana’s Lithium with clear drums and vocals, active bass, and steady rhythm guitar. These alter attention and create balance and contrast throughout the song.
-Song 6: Lithium

7. Let it go. Innovation work sometimes has to be terminated or sold. If it turns out along the way that what you are working on will not provide value for your own business, you can let it go and focus on other activities. You can also celebrate with burial beer and Band of Horses.
-Song 7: The Funeral

8. Unimagined possibilities. There is often a lack of understanding of how innovation can help achieve goals. Companies often have many unimagined opportunities to create value, and with an increased understanding of the effect of different innovations, they can succeed. Fleetwood Mac is somewhat unknown to newer generations and has unimagined possibilities for success. They also go their own way.
-Song 8: Go Your Own Way

9. User involvement and co-design. Most often, innovation and digitalization are about making it better for people, value creation, and increasing our quality of life. Queen takes the audience into the band when they play We will rock you at concerts.
-Song 9: We Will Rock You

10. Experimenting is agile and can lead the way and open up to finding new and unnecessary opportunities. Earlier in the process, you will reveal whether you are on the right track, and you can adjust. With experimentation, one will also discover positive surprises. Legend has it that Slash’s guitar riff that defines Sweet child O’ mine came from experimenting in jamming sessions. Everyone agreed that this was cool and something that had to be turned into a separate song.
-Song 10: Sweet Child O’ mine

11. Concerned about the future. You have to look far ahead and be ready for what’s to come. By keeping abreast of trends and drivers in society, one can draw realistic future pictures and solutions that provide value there. The effect of these solutions can be realized with existing opportunities and technology. One can also prepare for future scenarios by investing in expertise and technology. Rage Against the Machine was in the early nineties ahead of its time, combining rock and hip-hop as a contrast to grunge, and many bands followed suit towards the late nineties.
-Song 11: Bulls On Parade

12. Funding. A prerequisite for being able to work with innovation is funding. Who pays for what, and what should who have of returns when the gains are to be shared? Entrepreneurship and investment basically guide the development of innovation projects, which AC/DC sings: “Listen to the money talk!”
-Song 12: Money Talks

13. Support. Having access to support is essential to succeed with innovation. Time, expertise, resources, tools, infrastructure, and financing must be allocated if we are to succeed with innovation both in established businesses and in a startup garage. The Sex Pistols wouldn’t be the same without Malcolm McLaren.
-Song 13: God Save The Queen

14. The effect we’re looking for. It is not the technology itself that defines innovation, but the effect it creates for whom. How you use it to give meaning to people. By not committing to technology, you become timeless and you can be relevant for a long time. The Rolling Stones have been around for over 60 years without going out of style.
-Song 14: Beast of Burden

15. Be flexible on the choice of methods. Best practice for innovation work is not always best for the solution or the users you work with. Choose methods that facilitate achieving the goals, be flexible, and vary as needed. Metallica is all about Metallica, that’s the rule. Still, they made a love song.
-Song 15: Nothing Else Matters

16. Disruptive innovation. Going outside the organization to not be disturbed by existing frameworks and technology can be a good idea when you need a jump in business. Here you often get new solutions that take over from the old ones. Lockheed Martin is known for its Skunk Works, which is often the icon of disruption in companies. Radiohead isolated themselves in a cabin and came out with the OK Computer.
-Song 16: Paranoid Android

17. Objectives. Set goals, not demands. What do we come from as a 0-point and where are we going and how do we get there? Keep it simple and don’t try to solve everything all at once. The White Stripes have been inspired by minimalism in both music and identity. Three colors and three instruments.
-Song 17: Seven Nation Army

18. Innovation culture. By facilitating innovation throughout the business with a low ranking, trust, and flexibility, we often get a culture where people thrive. This allows people to join the journey and take ownership and responsibility. U2 has worked together for over 40 years.
-Song 18: I Will Follow

19. Open innovation is about looking beyond our organization for opportunities. In this way, one will often find unimaginable solutions that can turn out to hit very well. Here, partnerships and collaborations are established that are likely to increase profits. Duets are exactly the same, just look at Aerosmith and Run DMC.
-Song 19: Walk This Way

20. Take risks. You have to invest to succeed in what you believe in. And to make a profit, you have to invest. Work with IP and IPR from the start and have a clear plan for ownership and profit withdrawals. Bruce Springsteen let Patti Smith finish and release the song Because the Night.
-Song 20: Because The Night

21. Sustainable is timeless. When you first make something, it’s nice to make sure that what you make doesn’t expire anytime soon, and that the job has to be done all over again. By creating solutions that actually hit and live long, you have long-term value creation.
-Song 21: Live Forever

22. Design-driven innovation is mostly about a mindset and choice of method in the innovation processes, but also about people. When developing solutions, one should work smoothly, and closely with users, test, and fail early to create solutions that actually will be used. In this way, we work with holistic user experiences as a premise provider and strategically towards defined goals. At the same time, we reduce the risk of missing the mark, and we avoid burning the budget on solutions that may fail. Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side of the Moon came to life through many iterations at concerts over several years before going into the studio.
-Song 22: Us And Them