Innovation is the act or process of innovating — No kidding!
This is an excerpt of Part one of my book: Venus Genius: The Female Prescription for Innovation.
Wow! Google’s featured definition is definitely very helpful, isn’t it?
“What is innovation?” is the ‘million-dollar question’. In fact, it is almost a ‘two-billion-dollar question’ which is roughly the number of hits one gets when searching for the definition of innovation. Innovation became a ‘buzz’ word that a lot of people use without really knowing what it is and understand what it covers.
So, what’s innovation?
In my transition from corporate to the world of entrepreneurs and small businesses, I realized that people considered innovation as reserved to the elite. Most of them did not really understand what innovation was. Even big companies can be overwhelmed by innovation. A June 2020 report from BCG (Boston Consulting Group) reveals that 25 percent of big companies are confused by innovation, with inconsistent commitment and resource investment. Very smart innovators and experts went through the exercise of defining innovation. The outcome can be complicated or pompous. I personally gravitate around the short and impactful ones, like: “Innovation is creativity that ships,” (Steve Jobs) or “The future delivered” (Jorge Barba).
Still, innovation can sound sophisticated and intimidating. I would argue that it should be accessible and that anyone can be an innovator if one is curious, passionate, courageous, and ready to develop the right skills.
People pigeonhole creativity as belonging to a single individual or group of geniuses, they don’t realize that every human has this incredible capacity to imagine and to change things.”
Anthropologist Augustin Fuentes.
For my own definition, I opted for very simple language:
Something new that creates value
‘SOMETHING new that creates value’
When we think innovation, we usually think product innovation (be it a beauty cream or a car), or technology (digital technologies, patents). Innovation is far broader. It can be a service (new distribution system like take-out or online selling), a process (Henry Ford’s invention of the world’s first moving assembly line), a system (e.g. creating the first health savings account). It can also be a combination of existing elements into something breakthrough (like the iPhone). What we more often see these days is business model innovation, like the ‘platform’ business of Uber or AirBnB.
‘Something NEW that creates value’
If what you create is not new, it cannot be innovation. Now, it’s all relative depending on the scope and impact of the innovation. It can be new to the world (the vaccine concept), or new to the industry (the electric car). Copying an innovation to apply it to your own company is not innovating. However, as we saw with the iPhone, combining existing technologies/innovations into a new concept or business model is innovation.
In our interview, Nelida Quintero, an Architect and Environmental Psychologist, reminded us to stay humble: “I feel that sometimes we push too hard for being original, be the first or be new. But innovation, from my perspective, often happens when redesigning, rethinking, reconsidering something within different contexts or from the different standpoints, and that in itself could be innovative.”
There is an entire spectrum of newness, from minor to world changing.
‘Something new that creates VALUE’
This is the most important component of the innovation equation. When we think value, we first think ‘green’, bottom line, money. It’s important, but value is far more than that. Like beauty, it’s in the eyes of the beholder.
It reminds me of a great training I had in the corporate world around partnerships, given by ‘The Rhythm of Business’ consultancy. When talking about collaborations, they made us think about the value we could bring to the other party. They called it ‘currencies’. Beyond revenues, it could be image, connections, credibility, knowledge. It depends on what you need the most in your current situation. It’s well known that if you are lost in the Death Valley, a bottle of water is of better value than a $500 bill.
To summarize, as a simple example of all words being used, imagine this: a young entrepreneur created a rock-climbing training. One might argue that this is not an innovation. Well, when you know it was for abused women, suddenly it sounds like innovation: something (a rock-climbing training), new (it was dedicated to abused women: the exercises were designed to mimic situations of their current lives and help them overcome their fears — this type of training didn’t exist before) that creates value (bringing back confidence, self-esteem and pride to women and therefore changing their lives).
Over the next weeks, I’m going to be sharing excerpts and stories from Part one of my book, Venus Genius in this article series. Venus Genius launched on December 7, 2020 on Amazon, here is the link to buy it: https://lnkd.in/dXbs_WK! If you want to connect, you can reach me here via email: contact@innoveve.com or connect with me on social media:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/fabienne-jacquet
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Instagram: @innoveveLLC
