While talking with Scott Berkun at MX East a couple of weeks ago it occured to me that what I hate most about “innovation” is that people use it in the present or future tense. Glib phrases like “Oh we’re going to innovate!” or “Yah, we’re really innovating now!” slip so easily from mouths ….. but HOW DO THEY KNOW? I would like to suggest that it is only after the fact that it can be said with any certainty “yes, that was an innovation” or “wow they really innovated”. You can set up an environment that tries to foster and encourage creative problem solving but only history will show if an innovation occured.
As I was in my usual, 2 week, “hey I should probably blog this idea” period when most things die on the vine, I read Andrew Hinton’s blog post titled Innovation: tinkering, failing & imagining and got fired up again to rant about it myself. Thanks Andrew 😉
A More Mauvy Shade of Pinky Russet 