Many would-be innovators share a common frustration: persistent difficulty in gaining traction for their new ideas with the people they need to cultivate in order to advance them. Why do they often struggle? There are numerous reasons, but a common one is that they all too often rely on opinions to make their case instead of applying facts and data.
This question has baffled many executives for quite some time. Management tries to replicate the special event or circumstances that created a successful innovation project but often fails. Companies have created positions such as Chief Innovation officer, innovation teams, and organizational strategies that promote innovation through diversity, team dynamics, and social networking. However, failure rates of 90% are common when innovations occur due purely to chance. What distinguishes whether an innovation is hit or miss?
Very often the best way to innovate is to borrow someone else’s idea and apply it in your business. A successful innovation does not have to be an all-new invention. It just has to be something new to your business that is beneficial, explains Paul Sloane.
We often think patents are the domain of legal counsel or technical experts but, in fact, if you have some patience and perseverance, they can reveal all sorts of ideas, insights, and market and technical knowledge that will stimulate your own new product ideas, and all at no cost to you, explains John Aceti.
As history teaches us, maintaining the status quo may keep you in the money in the short term, but long term it can hurt your company and your industry. You have two choices: Make yourself obsolete, or your competitors will, warns Patrick Lefler.
The evolution of invention is speeding up exponentially, observes John Amato in this thought-provoking article.
Trust is fundamental to the highest levels of collaboration, but how do you know if that level of trust exists?
Over the years, I have seen unsuccessful innovation partnerships that seemed to have come straight from Dante's Inferno.
People who are successful inventors do have lots of ideas. But also they realize that ideas are a dime a dozen, and that in addition to the inspiration, a lot of good, plain hard work is required to bring an idea from start to finish, explains Susan Besemer.
A common difficulty with implementing an innovation is the human factor. An analogy is drawn with changing behavior through training.
The organization that implements lots of ideas will most likely have many failures but the chances are, it will reap some mighty successes too. By trying numerous initiatives we improve our chances that one of them will be a star, according to author Paul Sloane.
Whether you're inventing teabags or nail polish, innovations that solve actual problems make more common sense to consumers than "bright ideas" that "assume" a problem.
