To innovate, we need three things: a great idea, that creates value for people, made real. If we only have two out of the three, then we have an innovation trigger: fear, fantasy or frustration.
The culture in our firms has a big influence on how innovative we are. Two ways to change the culture are to go with a flatter organisational hierarchy, and to examine the assumptions that underlie our culture.
Do you know who invented the computer? Most people don’t – I’m not even sure that there is an answer to that question. The fact that we don’t know tells us a lot about how innovation actually works.
Often we feel that we can’t do something new until we’ve conquered our fears first. The problem is that we never conquer fear – the best we can do is learn to live with it. So how do we get important stuff done?
Creating space in your head for creativity is an important part of innovation – I hope that these resources will help you clear that space, and do great work!
Can large firms pivot? There are examples of firms that have, but not a lot of them. It’s a challenging process in the best of times, but they often try to do it in a crisis, which is even tougher. Your best strategy is to start experimenting now.
When people say that their organisations are risk-averse, often they actually mean that they are variance-averse. This causes problems over the long-term, but experimenting and innovation can help you avoid these problems.