Innovation myths revisited
Brands and innovations are similar in the sense that the underlying processes involved in producing both are often invisible. This idea is captured nicely in a quote from The Innovators' Solution (2003):
"Though the outcomes of successful innovations appear random, the processes that result in their success often are not."
The process is there. We just don't see beyond the brilliance of the outcome.
We look at the wonderful things that firms and nations produce and we ask ourselves, "How did they do that? It must be magic!" It's too easy to forget that the famous brands and innovations of today started with very humble beginnings and a lot of roll-up-your-sleeves toil. Nothing glamorous about the process at all: "Selling shoes out of the back of my car," in the case of one multi-millionaire businessman. We idolize the outcomes of these efforts (if they are successful) yet shun the very process that brought them into existence in the first place. This is one of the main themes behind Scott Berkun's book, The Myths of Innovation. There's a presentation by BrandAutopsy on Slideshare that offers some of the "Money Quotes" from the book:
.
The process is there. We just don't see beyond the brilliance of the outcome.
We look at the wonderful things that firms and nations produce and we ask ourselves, "How did they do that? It must be magic!" It's too easy to forget that the famous brands and innovations of today started with very humble beginnings and a lot of roll-up-your-sleeves toil. Nothing glamorous about the process at all: "Selling shoes out of the back of my car," in the case of one multi-millionaire businessman. We idolize the outcomes of these efforts (if they are successful) yet shun the very process that brought them into existence in the first place. This is one of the main themes behind Scott Berkun's book, The Myths of Innovation. There's a presentation by BrandAutopsy on Slideshare that offers some of the "Money Quotes" from the book:
.
posted by Gordon Graham at 9:31 PM
1 Comments:
My favourite one: "Instead of hard work, personal risk, and sacrifice, the innovation myth suggests that great ideas come to people who are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time."
I heard this often on brainstorming sessions. People must be encouraged to submit their ideas. The thinking that innovation happens to somebody else must be removed.
Cheers,T.
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