Forget Innovation. Focus on Improvement.

Companies across industries obsess over innovation. Design consultancies, startup entrepreneurs, and corporate intrapreneurs all chase the elusive goal of "innovating."

The harsh truth? You don't need to innovate. Innovation is overrated.

I won't debate definitions or distinguish between radical, disruptive, or incremental innovation. After a decade of working with hundreds of clients striving to innovate, I'm convinced it's irrelevant. Here's why:

Most businesses face different challenges. Regardless of size or type, your organization likely hasn't fully embraced the digital age. You risk never doing so for three reasons:

1. Technology

People still play appointment ping-pong with Outlook instead of using Calendly. Organizations struggle with cloud file-sharing, sending attachments like it's 2006. Introducing Office 365 has become a celebrated event, yet employees resist collaborative editing. Meanwhile, freelancers have used Google Docs for a decade. Notion and AI?

Forget it.

It's not just tools; infrastructure lags too. If you need to book rooms for video calls while FaceTiming friends effortlessly, your organization is prehistoric. If guests need printed Wi-Fi logins while nearby cafes offer free access, your C-suite hasn't grasped digital transformation.

Why do employees use WhatsApp instead of corporate "social networks" for coordination? Why can startups set up automated, cloud-based IT environments in days for under $1000, while your behemoth struggles to update email systems in a year?

You might cite security, GDPR, tradition, or legacy systems as reasons. But these are excuses. Each can be dismantled precisely.

Take security. My small operation likely matches or exceeds your company's security. My Passwords take 206 quattuordecillion years to crack, managed with hardware dongles. Add email and disk encryption. I'm no IT security expert, but I access necessary tech and expertise quickly. I attend cryptoparties for feedback, achieving better results than most IT departments, unbound by legacy tech.

2. Skills

HR and management focus on developing people, recruiting talent, and improving performance. That's nonsense. You have the skills to acquire knowledge. Take IT security: dedicate a few weekends to learning. Free resources abound. Most disciplines no longer require corporate training, universities, or expensive courses.

You pay for the joint support, collaboration, and mental game. Not for content.

Reality check: It's 9 AM. You've rushed through breakfast, school drop-offs, and traffic. Fast forward to 7 PM. You've battled traffic again and had dinner. Will you spend two hours learning, or Netflix? Guess which one wins 90% of the time? (Be honest.)

That's the modern worker's reality.

People state, "I don't have the time." But the reality is: upskilling is hard. Life's busy. Skill-building demands time and effort. So, most people rely on courses, training, and organizations for development.

Companies bring in consultants, agencies, and new hires to "innovate" because employees can't learn fast enough. The average 700€ and two training days per employee annually don't create experts or change behavior. It took me 12 months of experimenting with AI systems, reading books and newsletters, and immersing myself in ai communities to finally get an edge. And I have a CS degree and studied AI back then. Just saying.

3. Mindset

This loaded term often targets disagreeable voices. "Wrong mindset" can end careers.

I once interviewed with Minister Braun (the right-hand man of ex-chancellor Merkel) for a role in the German Chancellor's office. Ah, I was an idealist back then. He asked what Germany lacked in digitization. My answer displeased him.

I didn't say "a different mindset."

That was his response. That was what he expected. He believed people needed to embrace technology and the digital age.

I disagree.

How do you build a mindset? It's your worldview, assumptions, and actions towards something. But what comes first: mindset or behavior? Most get it backwards. You don't just change your mindset. First, alter external circumstances. Then actions. Then behavior. Mindset follows. It's an output, not an input.

You can't tell people: "fix your mindset." Just become an innovator. What's so hard?

I told him: "forget the mindset." I suggested changing external circumstances. German laws and regulations stifle entrepreneurship. Areas an hour from the capital lack phone reception. Not due to technology constraints, but frequency licensing and regulations preventing community-built infrastructure. That was true back in 2014 when I interviewed.

Still true 10 years later.

People adopt mindsets through social environments. Society's norms, rules, and laws shape its people. You become entrepreneurial by engaging with entrepreneurs and building businesses. You become digital by immersing yourself in digital fluency. You innovate by challenging the status quo alongside other visionaries. Creativity emerges from repeated attempts and failures.

Fail again and again.

Innovation and creativity require failure. Period.

If your organization's rules, incentives, and processes scream "This won't work here!" Guess what? You'll never change. If "fail early and often" is just lip service, you'll have lots of talk. Very little action.

Changing yourself and your organization trumps "innovation." Adaptation is crucial for the future. We now face a volatile, increasingly hostile planet. Climate change hits very hard very I live. Only the most adaptive will survive.

If you're trying to "innovate," examine your organization and yourself. Will staying there help you achieve it? Will it help you be an innovator?

A friend's story illustrates my point:

This experienced manager, with 15+ years in a renowned international corporation, led an eight-figure project. To wrap it up, he needed a simple website.

Internal IT quoted $80,000 and six months, requiring multiple approvals.

He built it himself for $300 in eight hours using Weebly. That was back in 2018.

Today? 30 seconds with durableAI for 3$

How much are you spending? Go ask your IT. Forbes says $40K on average in large orgs.

This disparity needs fixing. Whatever causes your organization to require 13.000 times the effort, something really needs to change. You don't need to "disrupt" markets or innovate. Fix what's broken. Your work is broken.

What to do instead

So what now?

Abandon the innovation bandwagon. Focus on fixing your tooling, skills, and environment. If the company resists because they ask you to come back to office, use medieval tools, and waste time japping to people in office all day... screw it. Start in your private life, at home.

1. Adopt startup, digital nomad, and IT freelancer tools. Update your technology comprehensively. Learn how these tools differ from familiar ones. Force yourself to change work habits. USE AI EVERY FRIGGIN DAY.

2. Learn continuously. Whether it's Design Thinking, UX Design, IT Security, or presentation skills, dedicate an hour daily. Prioritize it above all else. Screw Netflix, most shows steal your life and don't give anything back anyway. Pay for ChatGPT instead and talk to 4o to build a game with your kids, like I did. They want to speak to the computer instead of watching TV.

3. Change your environment. Attend meetups alone, expand your social circle, embrace discomfort. Growth lies beyond your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is where others want to keep you. Change "the others". You can meet with people to have a drink, or meet to drink while building something. The latter is more fun.

Lastly, engage. Comment if you agree or disagree. Others might share your thoughts. You're on LinkedIn to grow your network and create opportunities. Seize them.

There are >800m people on this platform. <17 million actually post something like this.

Be one of them.

And screw innovation.