Essay #58 – How to innovate right now. The biggest secret of innovation is that anyone can do it. The reason is simple: It’s just not that hard. Look up the word “innovate” in any dictionary and see what it actually means, instead of what you think it means. You’ll find something like this: To innovate is “to introduce something new.” That’s it. The key word in the definition is “new.” The Wright brothers, the inventors of powered flight in the United States, spent hours watching birds. Even in today’s high-technology world you can find easy connections between what we call “new” and ideas from the past.
All these examples prove that the trick to innovation is to widen your perspective on what qualifies as new. Even with these improved definitions, it takes more to make innovation happen. Ask Questions. The easiest place to start is with things you do every day. Not sure how to start? Why is it done this way? Many great innovators asked better questions than everyone else, and that’s part of why they were successful. 'Good' Beats 'Innovative' Nearly Every Time. One troubling recent phenomenon is the push for everyone to be innovators. I suspect more books have been sold with the word innovation in their title in the last 10 years than in the previous 50, including, I confess, one of my own.
And while much has changed, it's hard to say the quality of things in the world has improved as fast. Keen-eyed consumers bemoan the low quality of many of the things we buy and try to use. Web sites divide short articles across 25 ad-filled pages. From my studies of the history of business innovation, I'm convinced you can beat competitors and even dominate markets without fancy tricks. While we're fond of trumpeting the praises of Apple (AAPL), whose iPod revolutionized music, we forget how dismal the competition was. Loose Usage The word "innovation" is used to mean many different things, which is part of the problem. Innovation, in the simplest definition, means new or novel, to take an approach others have not seen before. Solving a Problem. Innovation. Debate: Who's the Most Innovative Company of 2010? - BusinessWee. Posted by: Michael Arndt on March 08, 2010 We’re a month away from publishing our Most Innovative Companies ranking for 2010, dear readers.
Let’s see if your opinion matches those in our survey of top-level execs around the globe. Who do you think will top this year’s list? And who do you think actually deserves to be No. 1? Also, name a newcomer that has earned a slot in the Top 25. To refresh your memory, here’s 2009’s list. 1. Dok.pdf (application/pdf-Objekt) Dok.pdf (application/pdf-Objekt) Open Innovation | Innovation Management. Open Innovation Marketplace.