Innovation As A Verb
Vintage Heddon Sonic fishing lures
Have you ever passed a new device that you haven’t been distracted by? I must confess that for me the answer is an emphatic “no!” Every technology holds an allure that I find irresistible; be they walkmen, or kindles, or cameras or … even sonic fishing lures; I love them all! In short, technologies speak to me as a siren calling to seamen, and I am always smitten.
At the same time, there are plenty of entry ways into such a romance. There is creativity, invention and innovation, each fundamentally different and yet intertwined, and over time I have favored innovation in my work, but even that is not straight-forward. When we speak of innovation, we speak of: Processes, Watt’s steam engine, for example, which helped launch the first Industrial Revolution; Products, such as Sony’s Walkman, which made music personal, mobile and quiet; Services, such as Amazon, which have completely transformed our lives by their convenience and accessibility; and, now, Business Models, such as Nespresso’s or Uber’s, which have completely changed the way we think about their industries, and tested the permeability of what used to be called barriers to entry. Next up, without a doubt, will be Organizational innovation, as we try to fit into an age of hyper-connectivity and the ecosystems that will go along with that. Never has the scope of managerial choices for achieving purposeful change ever been so broad, or so rich.
But, if you think about it, when we speak of innovation, inventions, creative individuals, devices and the like, we are speaking about nouns. We are assigning exclusivity or title to these realms, and that is dangerous and diminishing for the idea of what the art of innovation can achieve. When I hear CEOs speak about our “innovation process,” or our “creative people,” or our “techies,” and I hear such terms frequently, I shudder inside, because they are taking the change experience and making it the property of some group, or person, or department. Instead, what if we considered innovation as a natural act accessible to all? Innovation as a verb; which recognizes that how we do things can be as, or more, important than what results.
Innovation as a verb is the characterization of how we do our work. When Andy Boynton and I wrote about “The Idea Hunter,” it was the hunting that was important, not the hunter; the way that some people are better able to organize their search for new ideas. There were, thankfully, no nouns available to claim exclusivity; there are no Departments of Idea Hunting, no advanced degree programs in Idea Hunting, no Chief Idea Hunter with C-suite claims on this activity. As a result, anyone can be an idea hunter, and should be, and our book is full of different people doing this, in different ways, as an essential part of their lives. I feel the same about how we speak and teach innovation. We should expect that change is a normal part of our lives, and a fundamental need for any organization that aspires to sustain its success. I fervently believe that such change can occur anywhere in the firm; we can all be involved in innovation, even if we are not, ourselves, the original idea originator. In fact, if you take Alex Osterwalder’s and
Every cell in the business model canvas has led to a disruptive innovation.
Yves Pigneur’s Business Model Canvas, and look at which cells have given birth to disruptive innovations, you’ll find that every cell is represented, that every cell has been the originator of industry-shaking surprise.
So, if you are willing to take “innovation as a verb” seriously, how should it change the way you work?
Finally, do not do any of these things alone; you are better, more effective, more thoughtful and more daring when you are doing these things with others. More minds are better than fewer; more different minds are always better than more of the same.
You cannot preach the virtues of innovation as a leader, if you don’t practice them yourself. The first step towards a more innovative culture is to become a more innovative you.