In search of innovation

[A good idea is like a bad disease - Once you have it you are consumed by it and its contagious]

At first the idea of "innovation" sounded very broad to me. Over the last couple of years "innovation" has become that necessary buzz word that few really know about. A buzz word that is perhaps too vague to be practical and applicable in our day-to-day profession. Must I be a Leader (the only one supposed to innovate), a Lunatic (crazy ones get all the ideas) or a Lord (the one orders ones ideas downstream) to be an innovator?

So, I did what every confused, uncertain person seeking truth does: One, read the scriptures (I went through Praveen's book on innovation). And two, take the pilgrimage (I flew to Chicago to meet the innovation man himself).

Reading the book (http://www.amazon.com/The-Innovation-Solution-Predictable-Profitable/dp/1456558102/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1339541329&sr=8-3&keywords=praveen+gupta) left me with the following thoughts:

•  Innovation is everyone's business. One does not need to be Einstein or Steve Jobs to innovate. Innovation is not limited to people like Einstein or Steve Jobs. It is not a turf war; it is more of a democratic phenomenon.

•  There is a need to innovate at all levels. The ennui of everyday work can and must be addressed as an opportunity to understand the problem and come up with sustainable improvement. That is, to innovate.

•  Not only is it everyone's business, everyone (with interest) can innovate. It is a learned skill.

Ok, so it is learned, but can I learn it? Can I apply it? And, where does Praveen see the applicability of the subject? So we decided to conduct some experiments with thinking.

'Vikram, innovation is having fun with your thoughts', says Praveen. What he meant was that, see the problems and challenges you have with work (in your industry and function) and have fun looking for solutions. That was drudgery turned to creativity. That was creativity turned to value for oneself, and for one's cause and enterprise.

Praveen and I grab a lounge area in the hotel lobby where he timed me for three minutes to come up with all the problems and opportunities I saw within the industry (Financial Services in my case) and function (Finance operations). I came up with about seven opportunities. The next task was to come up with the following within three minutes each:

1. Good Ideas (to address the opportunities)
2. Crazy Ideas (to address the opportunities)
3. Stupid ideas (to address the opportunities)
4. Funny Ideas (to address the opportunities)

I am not going to bore you with the list of opportunities’ and ideas. It was not the problem statement or the amount or pure merit of these ideas that were generated, but it was that in twelve minutes I had about a dozen ideas - some worth mulling over and some not.

And that was the beginning -  that was the seminal moment of innovative thinking. In this case, there was deliberate effort to understand the subject, a process to structure the thought and a reasonable list to debate and follow up on.

There was no flash of genius, no invention, but a reflective thought on current process, challenges, and optimism that it can be improved. Innovation happened! Innovation became a fluid exercise - a way to think, critique and act with an evolving definition.

Innovation is to come up with ideas, to share those ideas with interested people. These ideas may be ripe; scandalous; new or old. But is an idea and it is in your head. Go ahead, whisper it.

An evolving person, profession, industry and even a society must constantly reexamine itself. Else it stifles and kills itself. That act of constant improvement and thought is innovation.  That was my pilgrimage - in search of innovation.

How have you innovated? Where have you given up or taken a charge to learn or even unlearn? Does this make you think differently about innovation? Share your experiences with me.




[See other books by Praveen here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=praveen+gupta]