What business today does not want to be innovative or even disruptive? In business world, “innovation” has reached a glorified position. But it is hard to define. It means different things to different people. One thing is certain, if you want to implement and execute innovations you need to invest a lot of energy. Not necessarily money, but energy. Dealing with innovation requires people, their attention, energy and a lot of hustling. Here is why:
- You can’t make enemies just because you are a creative innovator. This is the biggest mistake which driven, creative individuals make. Innovations require empathy. People will benefit from innovation presence. Not machines. Not cities. Not other things. People. Innovator needs people to incubate and scale innovations. To create an innovative culture, managers need to make sure that all employees understand what empathy is. Push strategy doesn’t work. Great innovations scale because of people not technology.
- Be sure you will marry communication. Meetings. eMails. Travelling. Conference calls – all of those will be your life. You need to pursue important persons, executives and managers, constantly lobbying for your innovative venture. Make sure you have mastered time management skills and have a support of somebody who can help you with managing meetings and embrace all the chaos you are going to be in.
- Multitasking or short focus. If you want to incubate and commercialise your innovation you can’t be silent. You need to tell people about it. Be loud in a gentle way. Be visible. It means you can’t shut off your email, or switch off your phone because you need to focus. You have to be reachable. It means multitasking or short focus (minutes not hours). Your work will be constantly intermittent by people who support you in your innovative venture.
Innovation is a big idea with a big potential. But it is wise to approach it in a proper way, implementing just one or a few of the ideas requires a lot of energy. As a leader, creator, human being, make sure you are able to provide it.