Everyone wants to innovate. Everyone wants to be Google or Apple. But everyone isn't.
Why not?
I have spent the greater part of the past four years learning how to be a marketer. With a recent role transition, I'm putting on my student's hat again. This time, to learn a new skill: innovation.
My guest-post on Kenny Silva's blog today tracks my journey of learning about business innovation and how your organization can be more innovative. I've looked at innovative and creative companies like Apple, IDEO, and others and captured these six simple innovation practices:
- Make room.
- Get organized.
- Use your eyes.
- Ship and tweak often.
- Anticipate problems.
- Include outsiders.
The post can essentially be summarized in this excerpt:
The whole goal of innovation is this: Fail fast. Read that again. If you don’t get anything out of this article but that one idea, then you didn’t waste your time reading it. You must ship; you must fail your way to success. And if you’re going to stand against your competitors, you’re going to have to do it quickly.
I'm sure I'll continue to learn more as I go (as I did with marketing), but that's what resonates with me so far.
Before sending you over to Kenny's post, I'll say one thing: Innovation must start at the top.
If you don't have high-level buy-in, it's going to be hard, if not impossible, to introduce innovation to your business or organization. Start there.
Okay, now go read and comment on the full post: 6 Tips for Innovating Like Apple, Ideo, and Behance
What tips for being more innovative do you have?
Recommended Reading: Big Innovations Question the Status Quo [Fast Company]
