Kathy Cunningham
One of the reasons I enjoy writing this column is that with each piece, I learn something.
I take time to research each topic to search for new information, trends, patterns - anything really that will provide more impact. This research can include asking friends and colleagues for ideas, based on
previous experience, reading books or online articles and watching videos.
I also like asking questions. And, while researching the topic of innovation, I was confronted with many questions and I felt a little bit of scepticism.
What comes first - an idea or innovation? Why does innovation matter - or does it? And what is innovation anyway?
When I googled the definition of innovation, I received hundreds - no, thousands - of different answers. This doesn't seem right to me when all the consultants, big corporates and even government are using this word and putting a whole bunch of funding in to it.
Based on the information I have right now, I am creating my own definition of innovation.
But before I show you what that is, let's go back to creativity. Everyone is creative in their own way and ideas can be found everywhere. But can everyone be innovative?
According to Forbes, CEOs say that innovation is the most important factor for growth. I'm not sure I agree with that, and need to spend some more time thinking about this since I believe that the most important factor for growth is meeting customers' needs and having a service or product that customers will pay for and find value in.
Does innovation answer the question of 'what problem are we trying to solve'? And what if you are not trying to solve a problem? What if you are just wanting to be creative?
A G Lafley and Ram Charon say in their book The Game Changer that innovation is a social process that can only happen when people do that simple, profound thing - connect to share problems, opportunities, learnings. To put it another way, anyone can innovate, but practically no one can innovate alone.
Aha! What if we remove the word innovate and change it to creative? Just try it in the sentence above.
My partner Rob has a theory that all innovation involves an element of creativity but not all creativity involves innovation.
Here's the gist of what I've learned so far. That innovation and creativity are highly interconnected. And, that the difference between innovation and creativity is in the execution of the idea.
Now, this is where I get sceptical. In Ram and A.G's interview in Fast Company they said, "Innovation is the key idea shaping corporate life, helping leaders conceive previously unimagined strategic options." This one sentence has two words that are overused and misunderstood to most - innovation and strategic.
Why should we care about this? Some people use this language to make people think they are smart. Taking a complex issue and making it simple is smart. Using language that most people do not understand is not.
Let's call innovation for what it is - creativity in action.
My definition of innovation is that innovation makes things better.