Mindful Monday - Innovation Is In the Eye of the Beholder

“Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Old: (1) Belonging only to the past. (2) Persisting from an earlier time. (3) Dating from the remote past. Three definitions from three different dictionaries. No need to wonder why clarity is so difficult, is there?

Change: (1) Something different. (2) Modify. (3) Replace. (4) Substitute. Again, definitions from four different dictionaries. Once again, no need to wonder why clarity is so difficult, is there?

Innovate: Make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.

Innovation: A new method, idea, or product.

There is a long-standing acceptance, innovation is innovation. And innovation equals progress.

Although, can it be true that sometimes the best innovation is un-innovation?

Today, with the influx of the “New” one must be much more cautious, wary, and wise when it comes to evaluating innovation and the largely unescapable marketing campaign from the New Innovation Cartel. CAUTION....… watch those prices, contracts, and addictions.

Innovation is in the eye of the beholder. Innovation is idiosyncratic, personal, and subjective. If it is NOT indispensable or at least incredibly helpful to you, then for you, it simply is NOT innovation.

3 Simple Steps for Successful Innovation

If It Ain’t Broken…

Evaluate the methods, technologies, products, processes, and systems. Leave untouched those pieces that are working efficiently. Changing the established (old) is only necessary when it is no longer capable of producing the intended result.

If It IS Broken, Innovate

Test new methods, technologies, products, processes, and systems only on the current ones that are not producing the intended result. Risk is mitigated when innovation is left for the already sub-standard.

Rapid Un-Innovation

Not all innovation is innovation. Sometimes New or Better is actually Worse, more expensive, and less efficient. Rather than focus on the sunk costs of the investment into New and Better, rapidly pivot back to the Original and the Predictable pre-innovated status quo. Rapid Un-Innovation puts one back to a familiar environment from which a more informed innovative process may begin once again.