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The gap between where your company is and where it aspires to be can feel a mile wide - until now. Unlock the power of...
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NavigationKey principles to help your organization bring it’s best ideas to fruition.
What comes to mind when you hear the word “invention”?
How about when you hear “innovation”?
Do the terms conjure similar images, or are they drastically different?
Do they require creativity? Structured discipline? Both?
These questions are top of mind among many leaders today, as their companies face mounting pressure to adapt, evolve, or disrupt in markets driven by constant technological change. In this series we’ll look at the important distinction between invention and innovation, and flesh out some key principles to help organizations bring their best ideas to fruition.
Let’s start with the semantics. While innovation and invention are often treated as interchangeable terms, they are not the same. Invention is creating something new; it results in a product, process, or concept that is introduced to the world for the first time. Innovation is applying a new use or perspective to something that already exists; it takes the familiar and makes it better.
While invention is a one-and-done event, innovation is an iterative quest. It’s the drive to outdo what has already been done, and it has been propelling humans—and the products we create—for eons. As one neuroscientist put it, “a wild imagination has characterized the history of our species… because humans don’t have a settling point. What we seek is surprise, not simply a fulfillment of expectations.”1 That’s why we’ve moved past carpet sweepers to autonomous vacuum cleaners; from the Model T to self-driving cars; from Edison’s lightbulb to smart home lighting systems.
While invention is a one-and-done event, innovation is an iterative quest. It’s the drive to outdo what has already been done, and it has been propelling humans—and the products we create—for eons.
Ann Kapusta, Director of Research, Development and Applied Sciences
But if the drive to innovate is innate, turning innovative ideas into marketable realities is a bit more complicated. So how do businesses harness this human inclination and turn it to competitive advantage? There’s no foolproof formula. Despite all the corporate-endorsed hackathons, well-funded skunkworks, and high-powered innovation officers in today’s corporations, innovation is still chaotic, risky business.
Four elements of successful innovation can lend structure to this daunting task. The list is deceptively simple and devilishly difficult to balance. The innovation-execution gap is littered with products that never came to fruition in part because innovators ignored or tried to skip one of the following core requirements. Teams serious about bringing a product or service to market need to embrace all four elements if they’re going to move the needle from ideation to execution.
These elements are requisites, but they don’t guarantee success. When it comes to innovation there are no guarantees. It’s a messy, unpredictable process and there’s simply no way around that. But teams that commit to putting their customer first, and are brave enough to embrace the chaos of cross-functional design and iterative learning, just might surprise themselves—and all of us—with the next great innovation.
Next up: We’ll look at how one simple innovation in the U.S. Air Force saved lives by putting REAL customers first.
The gap between where your company is and where it aspires to be can feel a mile wide - until now. Unlock the power of...
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