Are You Really an Innovator?

On LinkedIn a lot of people brag they are an innovator. Just take a look at a random resume on LinkedIn: "I live and breathe innovation and new product businesses". "My passion is innovation and new technologies". "My strengths enabled me to lead corporate innovation initiatives securing key sources of competitive advantage". It's highly fashionable to call yourself an innovator these days.

It makes me wonder how it's possible, with all these innovators around, that our world isn't much more innovative than it actually is. Six out of seven innovations never even reach the market. Would this happen when so many of us are real innovators? This question inspired me to dig deeper into the characteristics - and qualities of real innovators.

The first question is ..."Who do you consider a real innovator"? Who comes to your mind? Here's a list of 10 people known to be innovative, like Steve Jobs (Apple), Shigeru Miyamoto (Creator of Super Mario), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Desmond Tutu (social innovator), Elon Musk (Tesla), Richard Branson (Virgin), James Dyson (Dyson), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (founders of Google), Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA). Of course this list is incomplete. Who's your favourite innovator?

When you read interviews with these ten famous innovators on what makes a successful innovator, they come up with things like: "Be authentic". "Be critical and speak out". "Never give up". "Be committed to perfection". "Say no to 1.000 things". "Work 80-100 hours a week". "Pick the right team". "Know when to grow". "Don’t take yourself too seriously". "Listen to your inner voice". "Be curious". "Use new technology to solve common day problems". "Make the perfect product". "Have a big dream". "Break the regular value chain". "Spend time with customers". "Step outside of comfort zone". "Mix business with pleasure". "Take calculated risks". "Break the pattern". "Simplify". "Persist".

Wikipedia defines an innovator in a general sense, as a person who is one of the first to introduce into reality something better than before. 

Based on this definition and the characteristics mentioned by 10 great innovators, I invite you to answer the following five questions to check if you are really an innovator:

• 1. Are you curious and able to come up with original ideas while the rest is stuck in creativity? Yes or no?
•  2. Do you have the courage to take real risks in everyday life with your career, reputation and money? Yes or no?
• 3. Are other people prepared to follow you when you take them on a path no one ever took before? Yes or no?
• 4. Do you change your mind and pivot your idea when it doesn't work and is proven wrong? Yes or no?
• 5. Do you persist and make it reality, even when everybody tells you it can't be done and you failed the first seven times? Yes or no?

A real innovator is a curious, creative, courageous, convincing, persistent, open-minded human being. Are you?

I fail my own test on two of the five questions. No, I am not a real risk-taker and not very flexible either. What about you?

Ps. Even you scored five yesses, just a last check: what was the last innovative thing you actually did?

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