After a short hiatus... a new Post! Innovation IS thinking and acting!

Recently I have had the pleasure and frustration of working in a variety of projects not only for my current employer but for past employers, some new clients and my own personal ones. While this has been tremendously busy, it has been very enlightening.

So first why would I do all of these things at once? Mostly due to the fact that I wanted to. I love learning and trying new and engaging work. And many of the problems that I am being asked to tackle are not just innovative and creative on an inspirational level, but also deeply meaningful on a personal one. 

I found myself in a number of conversations on what it means to be innovative. Now there are a lot of terms and lots of really wonderful and in-depth topics on the subject. However the questions being asked had nothing to do with the actual concept of innovation as opposed to the act of innovating. Individuals found themselves being unable to "move" on their desires to be innovative. 

From my perspective being innovative is thinking about things, tackling really life-changing concepts, and implementing them when no one else has. Now from this description people immediately jump onto the train of thought that really big impact innovations are really big. In truth they are start with simple thoughts which are spurred to action. For example, Apple's iPhone by itself while having lots of innovation really revolved around the idea that a smartphone should be simple, elegant and useful. Guess what? That was something whole industries had forgotten for decades. All it had taken was one company to cause that change. 

Yet that is again big. So let's tackle something more down-to-earth for most. Choose a single thing that you want to improve your life, and act on it. That's it. Nothing more than that. From that one thought, you have changed your life and not just yours, more than likely others. Innovation is not a single act, but a frame of mind that takes thoughts and puts them into action in a creative manner. While people may have thoughts, most never put them into action for a variety of reasons.

What distinguishes the small start-up from a large company in terms of innovation? While there are numerous factors, the core is that they think fundamentally differently. A large company stops innovating as a whole, limiting opportunities and capabilities to a small handful of individuals within their organization. Whereas for a small start-up everyone believes in what they are doing, in each other, and wants to tackle problems together. In my experience, "large company" thinking can be found outside of big organizations and coming to rest in small companies, start-ups and individuals.

It is the constant application of "innovative" practices both in thought and action that allows a professional to be innovative or not. Being open-minded, constantly looking for opportunities to improve and make a difference, all of these traits are what separates innovators/doers from others.