GETTING TO THE HEART OF INNOVATION!
The word “innovation” has almost become a swear word alongside “disruption”. These words are used everyday with almost reckless abandon. But I'd like to ask that you set aside these associations for just a moment and allow me to share a simplified perspective that’s been on my heart for quite some time!
I believe that at the heart of innovation is the desire to make your customers’s lives better or easier. Today, there are many businesses that start out as ordinary people who don't care about the money, they just want to help others. If their idea does really add value, soon they have more customers then they know what to do with and they figure out how to monetize along the way. The ones that last are the ones that remember that it’s not about money. Ironically, they are the ones who also make the most money.
A friend of mine, Andrew Arnott, once beautifully crafted this quote and I have never forgotten it since the very first time I heard it: “My head is a swimming pool but my heart is the ocean!”
What I’m trying to say is when you approach innovation from a pure business mindset, you are limited. But when you play the long game and do what’s right for the customer regardless of short-term profit, your options open up dramatically. Of course profit matters, as does cash flow, and general business acumen. But leading from the heart with purpose is the only sustainable way to innovate and even disrupt.