Innovation

Creativity is the ability to find new solutions to a problem or new modes of expression; thus it brings into existence something new to the individual and to the culture. - Dr. Betty Edwards in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

As the births of living creatures at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time. - Francis Bacon

When looking at Edward's definition, creativity is the ability to bring into existence something new to the individual and to the culture, while a "new solution" is the innovation. And as Bacon noted, "innovations are the births of time." For example, when going back to rocketry (see creativity), we see that it was not simply one big creative thought that took place after a "mind-stretcher," but rather a series of innovations that took place over a long period of time. That is, someone did not say, "hey, let's build a rocket to go to the moon," but rather it started with the simple concept of gunpowder and then took on a number of innovations throughout history. Thus, creativity and innovation are closely linked together. Creativity is the process, while innovation is the product.

Drivers of Innovation

  • Stay Out of the Way: You cannot drive innovation is you spend your time putting out fires. Therefore, hire and develope teams that can do the job and then stay out of their way.

  • Get Results: Results are the drivers of business, and in turn, innovation drives results.

  • Recognize Patterns: New ideas (creativity) are normally the result of connecting one or more ideas together (seeing a pattern).

  • Forget Technology: While technology is indeed important, at times what we really need to do is find new ways to use our existing technology rather than invent new technology.

Further Readings

Creativity
Critical Thinking
How To Stop Great Ideas

Notes

Big Dog, Little Dog
 Copyright 2004 by Donald Clark
Created April 18, 2004