Is innovation driven by processes?
Hint: Emotions are a key driver.
This includes excerpts of Part one of my book: Venus Genius: The Female Prescription for Innovation.
People all over the world are getting scared of technology and wondering if and when robots will take over their jobs. Fortunately, we are reminded that:
“Creativity is, in fact, the unique and defining trait of our [human] species”
Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist Edward O. Wilson“Creativity is as much part of our tool kit as walking on two legs and having a big brain”
Anthropologist Augustin Fuentes
So, emotions are at the origin of creativity, creativity is the precursor of innovation and of what makes us human.
It starts to all come together, doesn’t it?
It points to the fact that our humanity and emotions are the engine of innovation.
Most organizations overlook the power of emotions, and thus humanity
In companies, innovation is unfortunately often handled as a business. Human creativity and emotions are left out to favor processes and productivity. Emotions are not taken seriously in business, despite the fact that they make the difference when it comes to consumers’ buying decisions, particularly for women.
In his book Humans Are Underrated, journalist Geoff Colvin argues that: “As technology advances with increasing speed, the most valuable skills in the economy will be skills of deep human interaction — empathy, creative problem-solving in groups, storytelling — and that developing these skills will be crucial to the futures of individuals, companies, and nations”. Emotional connection is what sells.
Letting people express their emotions creates an environment where creativity can flourish.
This is not the only positive impact of emotions on innovation: creating from your heart and emotions will produce solutions that emotionally connect with your target consumer.
Simon Sinek described this beautifully when talking about the Apple products: “We buy [them] because of the “why’”, not the “what” or “how”, because of our brain system. When we communicate from the outside in, yes, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information like features, benefits, facts, and figures, but it just doesn’t drive behavior. When we can communicate from the inside out, we’re talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do.“
This is where gut decisions come from, it justifies that great innovation comes from emotions.
I am not saying that we don’t need processes for innovation. We do need the rigor and structure. Trying to simplify and demystify innovation does not mean that it is easy. Some people picture innovation as cool people with crazy hair having fun in a room full of bean bags. But innovating is very challenging, it’s ‘blood, sweat and tears’.
Processes are necessary, they just need to find their place at the right time, and they cannot lead to meaningful innovation without human creativity and emotions.
Over the next weeks, I’ll continue to share 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: www.linkedin.com/in/fabienne-jacquet — https://www.facebook.com/innoveveLLC — @innoveveLLC.
