The Danger of "Innovation"!

First, I am a proponent of the work being done by the InnovationForce and the article embedded here is further proof of the effort that goes into everything they do. Innovation is not just in their name, it is their culture. I encourage you also to read the WSJ article they highlight.

Innovation is the hot new thing. Look at LinkedIn or any other platform. Type the work into your favorite search engine. I am sure you have heard the word at work in the last day, week, month. What dangers are there in innovation? The articles here give some insight into a few, and I will allow those to speak to that. I want to walk everyone down a line of thought.

A company decides to innovate. Starts an innovation group. People within the organization see a path forward/up. Company politics kick in and someone is awarded the position of "head of innovation". The person in this position may or may not be an innovator. A team is assembled. Typically, these will be new hires with skill sets in the new technology the company is looking to innovate with. The new group then goes looking for a problem to apply the new technology to. Anyone see anything off yet? Any possibility that things are not going to work as planned or expected? As the articles note this is the blueprint so many companies are currently following. Yet accrding to studies neiter CEOs or employees are pleased with the outcomes. True innovators until a bit later in their career would likely not seek a "head of innovation" position. Why not? They are too busy INNOVATING. True innovators do not announce it. Talk about it or try to show how innovative they are.

True innovators are always working on the next thing. They are curious, restless, inquisitive, often unsatisfied. It is not a title to be aquired, or someting they set out to become. It is not something you can teach. You can teach someone to play football. You cannot teach them to be Tom Brady. You can teach someone to play Basketball but not to be (insert name of your favorite top player here). I am sure you get the idea. We all work. We all do things. We also likely know who the real innovators are in our companies, industries, and fields of study. While we may not be 100% like them. We can support and strive to imitate the innovators. Everyday.....

Assigning innovation efforts across business units makes sense for Walmart, said Bhardwaj. “It’s very difficult for any one single team to be the subject matter expert and the tech expert at the same time,” - Anshu Bhardwaj, chief operating officer of Walmart’s technology unit. (WSJ article)

Some tech leaders say it is a mistake to position innovation as something separate from the business itself, and that doing so can often lead to simply pursuing technology for technology’s sake. Companies risk falling into that pattern with AI, by focusing on where they can apply the technology rather than the business problems it could potentially solve, they said. - WSJ Where Does the Best Innovation Happen? Not in Stand-Alone Labs, Some Companies Say

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