Innovation, the buzzword that hinders innovation itself
This year completes exactly 24 years dedicated to the practice of innovation, either with the foundation of a startup or in innovative projects involving marketing, technology, and agribusiness. Since then, there have been thousands of hours and hundreds of initiatives, which have resulted in dozens of solutions for end-users, generating the essential: value for them. A wonderful period of great learning.
In these more than two decades I have been able to experience what the researcher and writer Steven Johnson described so well in his book “Where good ideas come from”. According to him, in the process of generating innovation, there is no “eureka” moment, when like magic we have a sudden illumination and discover something brilliant. The innovations have matured for years, from the collision of “slow hunches”, looking for the ideal moment to become real. Thus, they arise from the work and dedication of the most resilient — and also passionate about the idea of generating something really new and with practical application.
I was able to observe and participate in the world digital revolution brought about by the innovation created by Tim Berners Lee, the World Wide Web that today we affectionately call the internet. It has made us more connected, has allowed access to an unimaginable amount of information, at a maddeningly high pace. This revolution has accelerated the innovative process in part, since it allows us a larger network of points of friction, in which we can search and test “hunches” to build our innovations. Something wonderful for lovers of new ideas!
However, not everything is perfect! At the same time as this frantic exchange of information and connections opens more doors, more noise appears in the process. One of these noises is related to the purpose of innovation itself.
Due to the growing use of the term innovation, it became a buzzword. Due to its constant association with fashion startups, many people started using this term in slogans, tweets, and stories. Many others began to desire the title of innovators, but without really being committed to this hard (and slow) work. What is the effect of this phenomenon? Many professionals have started to fantasize about Innovation, shifting their attention and their daily effort to look more at the desired future, than taking the concrete step, in the present, that really enables the development of any innovative solution.
I see that today we are missing great opportunities to generate value with basic, practical, real and concrete things, by mistakenly understanding that innovation is something disruptive, totally different from what is set. In the current imagination, innovation is more to take someone to Mars than finding a new way of relating to the customer, for example, and making him more prosperous on a daily basis. However, returning to Steven Johson as a reference, an innovation needs much more than basic things to happen constantly than a moment of great epiphany. In other words, when we move away from the basics well done, we move away from true innovation.
The question I have been asking today is: how to make people involved in the innovation process feel happy to contribute simply by doing their job, day by day, step by step, with love and resilience? How to make the practice of doing the basics well done, instead of imagining a perfect future, the “new normal”? I think if we can change that mindset, we’ll create a giant source of innovation. Small and constant, but sufficient to generate the great revolution that we are looking for.
