We see the word innovation often, and it is sometimes surprising what qualifies as innovation when this buzzword is joked around. Those of us who are creative and innovative know that our prospects for success are greater than those without such talents and attributes. Perhaps that is why so many people seek to learn to innovate on their own. It sure looks good on a resume, and most job descriptions have a sentence or two like; looking for an innovative entrepreneur. Let’s talk a bit about innovation and see if you can figure out how to better reposition yourself as someone known for being innovative.
Innovation is simply combining observations and solutions from other domains
Many who have given it enough thought realize that most good innovations in any particular industry come from borrowing ideas or parts of ideas from other industries or domains. Most innovators I know admit that most of their new thinking out of the box comes to them this way. If this is the case, then we don’t need to teach innovation at all, but just need more scholars and people with extensive experience in many fields.
Unfortunately, that would mean all the ‘innovation gurus’ would be out of work and teaching very few seminars because until their enrolled students had more experience in more areas of life and work, seminar attendees would not be ready to use the technology. taught methodology. or have enough knowledge to be a future contender for the top ranks of innovators.
Of course, the scary part of this theory of recombination to create innovation means that it’s pretty easy to teach, and if so, anyone can do it, so maybe that’s why everyone is trying to specialize in this generalist category of “innovation coach” today. Once someone has experience and knowledge and understands how to use information in one area in another, he can become an innovator, at least proficient in the more common type of innovation that he is.
If you’ve played sports, you can take some of the strategies and tactics used to win and use something similar in a business situation to improve a product or sell a service. Perhaps you had a brief stint on a summer job and realize that some of your observations could be used in the organization where you work or volunteer now. Maybe you use a gadget in the kitchen that could also be good for doing a task at work, with just a little modification. There is your opportunity to innovate. Take it. Think about it, both early and often.