From the HBR Blog:
How many of these myths do we believe in library land?
Ten Innovation Myths
by Scott Anthony
http://blogs.hbr.org/anthony/2011/10/ten_innovation_myths.html
“My colleague Josh Suskewicz and I put our heads together and came up with the 10 innovation myths that we encounter most often in the field.
Myth no. 1: Innovation is random
Reality: Innovation is a discipline — it can be measured and managed. Consider how Procter & Gamble’s structured approach to innovation allowed it to triple its innovation success rate and double the size of a typical initiative.
Myth no. 2: Only creative geniuses can innovate
Reality: Innovation is distinct from creativity. While creativity can help, people who
aren’t intrinsically creative can create high-impact innovation if they follow
the right process.
Myth no. 3: You’re either an innovator or you’re not
Reality: Research recounted in The Innovator’s DNA described how innovation is about 30 percent nature and 70 percent nurture.
Myth no. 4: Innovation happens in the R&D lab
Reality: Innovation — something different that has impact — can happen anywhere in an organization. Everyone should be looking for new ways to solve old problems.
Myth no. 5: We will win with superior technology
Reality: Most market disruptions rest on innovative business models — new ways to create, capture, or deliver value
Myth no. 6: Innovation is all about improved performance
Reality: Sometimes innovation is about improving performance along traditional dimensions, but some of the most powerful disruptive innovations sacrifice raw performance in the name of accessibility or affordability.*
Myth no. 7: Our customers will be a critical source of innovation insight
Reality: Your customers might tell you how to make your current offering better, but they won’t point the way to disruptive growth; you have to explore new markets in new ways to identify new growth businesses.
Myth no. 8: Game changing innovation is done only by entrepreneurs
Reality: Many of the most exciting disruptions in recent years — such as GE’s low cost imaging solution and Cisco’s TelePresence solution — have come from big companies
Myth no. 9: We will win by targeting the biggest markets
Reality: Markets that don’t exist are difficult to precisely measure or analyze; the most powerful innovations create new markets.
Myth no. 10: Innovation requires big bets
Reality: As our friend Peter Sims writes in Little Bets, if you want to win big, you should start small.
There’s no doubt we missed something important in our list. What other innovation myths have you encountered?”
Stephen
3 Responses
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Myth # 11 – Innovation is expensive.
Not true. Although innovation will require resources, or more specifically focused resources, it’s not always dollars. Can’t be innovative because we don’t have a budget for that shouldn’t be an excuse, IMHO.
Moe: On the other hand libraries and librarians need to start valuing their time properly and not see their efforts outside of budget dollars as free. I see staff spending time oo often that is far more expensive than spending the dollars in another way.
Stephen
Agreed. As we all know time is money and it needs to be spent with the same level of accountability as the actual dollars in the budget line. All I’m saying is that just because you don’t have a budget line that’s called “innovation” shouldn’t stop you from trying. Innovation can be as simple as changing a process to improve customer service, make things more efficient, free you up to do something else, etc.
Calling busy work innovative doesn’t make you innovative.