What is Innovation?
Mark Perera
Chairman of Vizibl & DPW | Pioneer in Decarbonizing Supply Chains | ProcureTech & ClimateTech Advisor | 'Procurement with Purpose' Co-Author | Procurement Leaders Founder
I saw this quote from Bill Gates and it really resonated with me. It’s something that one of the best business minds in the world identified a long time ago, and yet we still struggle so much with understanding what innovation entails.
And this led me to think of why is it that when it comes to the word innovation, it conjures up a world of complication along with feelings of confusion and frustration. Do we over complicate things? Do we miss the fundamental aspects of what innovation should involve? Do we even know what we mean when we utilise the word innovation?
I’ve always felt that the ability to collaborate and share ideas lies at the heart of innovation, whether you are an individual person or a huge global organisation. It’s the driving force, the engine. But of course, we should always ensure that when we utilise the word innovation, people are clear on why they are innovating and to what end. That’s where leadership comes in. Recently I read a post by Stefan Lindegaard around how “Innovation fails because executives and their lieutenants don’t have a proper balance between managing day-to-day activities and creating the future. You just can’t win today if you spend 90% of your time and attention on maintaining the status quo!”. Leaders need to be farmers, cultivating and tending to their innovation projects to grow a healthy pipeline of ideas that are brought through and nurtured.
Surely the pursuit of innovation should be enough to motivate anyone to act with enthusiasm for a future state, but often it is met with groans and confusion. We need to fix this. I’d love to hear your thoughts on why this is such a difficult area for organisations to get their arms around.
Co-Founder and Director at HyFlux, and myMaskFit | MBA | BEng | 2024 Uplink World Economic Forum Top Innovator
5 年I like the statement “Leaders need to be farmers, cultivating and tending to their innovation projects to grow a healthy pipeline of ideas that are brought through and nurtured.” - well you know a little about farming - it’s messy, not so rewarding as it’s mucky hard work, you may end up making a sale at the market but lots of the time you have to come back and shovel crap again whilst the bigger value comes to the kitchen table -> collaboration - just like innovation.
Chief Procurement Officer - Global Head of Sourcing ; Transformation ; Value Creation & Performance optimisation ; Risk & Sustainability
5 年Innovation is not invention. It needs certain attribute (generating revenue, improving profit,...) and it needs to be aligned with the strategic vision set for the company. Too many companies are either innovating in area which are too far from their business or are too conservative and missing key innovations (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/procurement-innovation-nicolas-passaquin-1f/)
Co-Founder at Fortuna Edge
5 年Really great question, something to ponder about indeed. I wonder what @Stefan Lindegaard?and Oliver Wright?views on it would be?
Net Zero | Value Chain Decarbonisation | Supplier Sustainability
5 年Good work Mark Perera. Has anyone ever tried to run a brainstorm/workshop session on their own and realised it's completely useless? Chuck in a bunch of people with different experiences and different ideas and progress is made instantly. Simple example of collaboration at work.