by novel_admin on February 2, 2012
One of traps of writing on innovation is that the associated language can hide a deeper problem. Wade into the controversial waters of how to transform public education in the United States to get a sense of this. You can have very specific strategies for addressing the lack of innovation in a business, but when it comes to innovating within the U.S. public school system, variables of race, class, culture, and political expediency collide. As much hand wringing ensues, our children continue falling behind other nations, leaving them vulnerable even as we spend more per capita than any other country. This is a tragedy played out daily in communities from coast to coast.
So what is missing? Is it a lack of will and vision on the part of elected leaders? Is it bad teachers, or parents not reinforcing fundamentals at home? Maybe those are all at play, but let me add this to mix: It borders on pathology for anyone to tout American can-do ingenuity while we’ve steadily exported jobs abroad over the past two generations — unless of course that is what one believes will strengthen the prospects for our children in the future. There is a profound disconnect with what is financially prudent for companies to remain competitive, and what it means to invest and reinvest in the children of this country. We have transitioned into an “every-man-and-woman-for-himself” mentality that has been steadily eroding the spirit of this nation. Within another 20 years, our principal export could be a cautionary tale of not taking the long view and hanging one’s children out to dry.
What is the long view? It is a fundamental part of innovative thinking that cuts across all sectors, based on not moving forward without specific infrastructure landmarks being met. For example, building and reinvigorating flexible, responsive manufacturing centers throughout the country has to be part of the metrics of innovation that inform the missions of businesses based in this country. President Obama recently held out this lure of financial incentives for companies to stay here in his State of the Union speech. Say what you will about his policies, this is not a partisan issue.
What he didn’t articulate are the high stakes: the loss of our country having a robust and growing manufacturing center robs the coming generations of one of the cornerstone metaphors of the American experience. No doubt, we are far behind other countries now, and it will take the better part of a generation and financial sacrifice to reverse a trend that is damaging us to the point we may never recover. But if we as a country are teaching by the current example, then it must be to always weigh cost-effectiveness and expediency over a lasting commitment to our children’s welfare.
Think that’s the way to go? Good luck with that.
by novel_admin on January 8, 2012
One of the odd byproducts of writing about innovation is feeling somewhat removed from the process of…innovating. To remain an innovator means tackling ideas as they emerge and not take them in stride.
This isn’t as easy at it seems. Working online often means that we feel we are just clicks away from what may be the “next big thing”. We can be lured into observing and remain less curious. In fact, the act of waiting for the new has had an impact on how we view ourselves as a society. While we may imagine ourselves as people who are self-directed innovators, we consume more than we produce and measure our success according to the flexibility we have in acquiring what we desire. The latter point may seem like a reasonable metric but it is a narrow view that doesn’t test our limits or those of our colleagues.
This criticism is not original nor does it point the way to a solution. But, it’s our predicament that we wish to foster the next wave of innovators yet don’t know how to build the will and determination that is required. A good example is the decay of the space program in the United States. Once, we captured the imagination of the world, landed a man on the moon and created a new frontier for exploration. Our growing complacency toward the program in the following decades points to our inability to recognize where innovation in one arena can feed into our sense of our selves as a nation. Today, we lament that China may surpass us in space exploration.
The loss of this frontier to a competitor should signal the need for soul searching, particularly in the business sector. First, we have to redefine what it means to be entrepreneurial. We have to shift from thinking of it as a solitary effort of a visionary and see it as an organizational requirement. If innovation is to be a business goal, and one that could reenergize this country, we have to focus more on risk-taking that is strategically distributed within groups in an organization.
Second, there is an enormous amount of trust required to allow teams to innovate. The possibility of failure is always present. But that is the nature of experimentation, which is even more important in difficult economic times. That is why organizations need to be structured to protect innovation centers as much as possible from external pressures.
Third, companies have to understand that innovation is not a problem to be solved but rather a condition that emerges out of a specific culture in the workplace. Gathering highly competent creative people in a room and waiting to see what happens cannot will innovation into being. True leadership is revealed when the talented members of team can both have a sense of freedom in their work to match the pressures of delivering the goods.
These are launching points for discussion. Organizations that focus too much on finding the right people and not enough on building the infrastructure within an organization to support innovation need to take note: Stop waiting for the “next big thing”. Be it.
