Called to Create: Innovation in Action

As I continue my work on my M.B.A., I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on my own motivations, and get to know myself a bit more. For the reader, I also wanted to move beyond the profiles and likes to give a little bit more information on who I am and why. As a part of my current class, Emerging Trends and Opportunities for Innovation, I completed the Edison Innovation Literacy Blueprint with the goal of identifying my strengths and weaknesses in my own creative process. I expected to be pretty well rounded in the creative process, given that I have always tended to do well in generating ideas, working in a group, and balancing dreaming with handling gritty details. Overall, my completed blueprint confirmed my suspicions.

The 5 Competencies (and my subsequent proficiency percentages) are as follows:

1.????Solution-Centered Mindset: 74%

2.????Kaleidoscopic Thinking: 74%

3.????Full-Spectrum Engagement: 83%

4.????Master-mind Collaboration: 70%

5.????Super-Value Creation: 58%

When plotted onto the pentagonal scale, the competency proficiency percentages look more even than they are. Obviously, my largest weakness was in the fifth competency of Super-Value creation, and this is due in large part to my inability to apply the right business model. This didn’t surprise me, as I possess very limited knowledge of business models, let alone what situations they are to be applied to appropriately. The surprise in this area, however, was my limited ability to link trends and gap with strengths. Part of it was my lack of observation of my current organization’s strengths and weakness, added to my lack of initiative in connecting those strengths and weaknesses to current trends. I also do not regularly search the marketplace for avenues of improvement. I realized that I have become complacent in my position. While it is good to be comfortable in one’s chosen area, complacency is a dangerous avenue to stagnancy. If you know me well, you know that I value education highly, and believe that while you may cease to be a student, you never stop learning. When I realized that I had become lazy and wasn’t seeking to learn about my area, I was surprised, and to be honest, a little ashamed at my hypocrisy in this area.

Another couple of areas I severely lacked in were keeping a journal or notebook and aligning goals to my passions. For me, these are closely related issues, and both are a result of my difficulty in visualizing an achievable path to my aspirations. Often, I will come up with a vision I want to reach, but will not set goals to make that a reality. I have been lucky; many of those visions have come about through a large volume of hard work, not necessarily from properly targeted effort. The phrase “work smarter not harder” comes to mind. Because I haven’t given my ideas a concrete path to be reached - such as a notebook – they are likely to fall short of my high expectations. Part of the reason I haven’t used a notebook is so I don’t feel restricted; in reality, writing down my goals and progress can free me from the stress of wondering how I am going to reach my vision. I would like to start using a notebook, if for no other reason than to record how far I’ve come. As I am my own worst critic, sometimes I need a reminder of what I have and can accomplish.

This also plays into God’s calling on my life, and how I am stewarding what He has given me. If I am not using my time efficiently because I haven’t set proper goals, I am not stewarding the time He has given me well. If I am not investing in the appropriate needs for my chosen passion, then I am going to waste the money He has given me. The Lord has called me to minister to families using my storytelling talents. While I am not sure what that looks like, I can use that calling as a motivation to search for gaps in the resources available to families in various tumultuous / crisis situations. Finding these gaps will give me an “in” as to what families are missing, and allow me to provide that key service, particularly if it is an education deficiency. After all, as Jordan Raynor puts it in his book Called to Create, we are called "to create new things for the good of others. God has called us to be entrepreneurial" (Raynor, p. 36)

This Innovation Blueprint is going to help me pinpoint where my stewardship is lacking, so I may better heed God’s call on my life, and pursue my passions in a way that glorifies Him first, and serves others best.

Sources:

Raynor, J. (2017). The First Entrepreneur. In Called to create: A biblical invitation to create, Innovate, and risk (pp. 36–37). Baker Books.?