The Jazz of Innovation

Think about the times your organization has the most innovation energy.  Talking about innovation, especially riffing on the "what ifs" is fun.  What if we could introduce a product that made our competition obsolete?  Which of us hasn't had this conversation?  

No. The one word the best entrepreneurs never accept. I said it. Now let me walk you through a broader story because avoidance of the word in and of itself will seem cliche. Stay with me. 

When I was little I had a role model for entrepreneurship – my mom. She was a natural leader. She was president of the UJA in Sacramento. From this I saw civic involvement and leadership first hand.

Many things can go wrong during the process of creating new products, services or business models. Let me give you ten examples from my own experience. You may recognize this as an array of all too

Case is pointing out an age old conundrum:  innovators have an attacking mindset.  They want to disrupt the status quo, change something, create something.  As Jobs said, put a dent in the universe.
Change, disruption and universe dents are a bit more problematic for many larger corporations, and this is why they struggle to innovate. 

Two years ago, I spoke to a gentlemen who had started and sold four companies. He was currently working on a new project that sounded very promising (for all I know, he has already sold that one too). We had just heard a talk in which the speaker told people that the whole key to business success in our time is patent ownership. Without it, no business can really succeed.

There are countless books, tools, processes, methodologies and frameworks for innovation. And cutting across all theory and practice, the biggest fundamental of innovation is fear.

The Darwin Chair, designed by graphic design Stefan Sagmeister is 200 chair designs in one chair. The top of the chair covered with large sheets of paper, each with their own unique design. If you’re tired of one design or it gets dirty, just flip the paper to the next one.

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

The innovative thinker faces unique challenges.  The innovative leader faces even more.

Organizational leaders can be thought of as living in two worlds, simultaneously. 

Think small, don't partner with business units and don't treat innovation like an election.

Here's an oxymoron you never want applied to your company: It has a stale innovation strategy. Innovation is just as prone to insipid groupthink and cookie-cutter efforts as any other corporate initiative.