Can You become an innovator ?

Innovation is most of the times confused with Creativity. Creativity is needed to be able to visualize how the innovation would look like but cannot be equated to Innovation.

The key difference between Innovation and Creativity is Execution.

Several key characteristics in an individual help in being Innovative :

An Opportunistic Mind Set allows for individuals to identify gaps and puts them on a path to figure out ways to fill them.

Expertise / Competency in the area of work help individuals to identify opportunities with impact along with low hanging fruits.

Proactivity and Persistence

Own Common Sense : Even though innovators are thought to be risk takers they are very aware of the risks they take and most often have employed measures to arrest the risks if they appear.

Positive use of Networks to bounce off concepts as also to take feedback and suggestions.

Innovation is more than idea generation and a person with skills in Design Thinking, Critical thinking, Digital Transformation etc. tend to do very well.

These traits can be developed over time if they you do not process them. Skills can be gained by training and almost anyone can be an innovator.

Have an inquisitive mind and don't feel uncomfortable asking questions. That is how you start to unravel the surface and identify potential areas for innovation.