<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nWhen we think of innovation, we immediately think of the newest smart phone or the coolest new app or some other clever gadget.\u00a0 We think of technology companies like Apple, Google, or Microsoft, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 But what about the rest of us?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we have to be innovative too?\u00a0 As a matter of fact, we do.\u00a0 Whether your company is a startup or old and established, whether it\u2019s high tech or low tech, whether it\u2019s a service business or a manufacturing business, you must be innovative or you won\u2019t be in business for very long.\u00a0 While some innovation is aimed at totally new and unique products or services, the great bulk of innovation is aimed at simply improving existing products or services, or figuring out how to deliver them more efficiently.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what some of the Fast Company Innovation Festival participants had to say about innovation and creativity:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about choosing your [creative] partners wisely \u2013 choosing partners who are additive.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Darren Star, producer<\/p>\n
\u201cSurround yourself with good people who like things you don\u2019t like.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Garance Dore, fashion blogger<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want innovation, you want diversity.\u00a0 We often hire people like us, and the actual answer is to hire the person who is least like me \u2013 who is going to complement me.\u00a0 There\u2019s a real art to that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Beth Comstock, GE<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I hear people say, \u2018Well, that\u2019s just not the way we do things,\u2019 my hair stands up.\u00a0 You have to be careful not to let success breed a one-dimensional way of thinking.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0– Mark Parker, Nike<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the work environment, innovation comes from great trust, from people having a voice.\u00a0 Fear inhibits innovation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Susan Reilly Salgado, Union Square Hospitality<\/p>\n
So in the minds of these Festival participants, the key to innovation is to create an environment where diversity of thought is not just tolerated, but encouraged.\u00a0 As General George Patton once said, \u201cIf everyone is thinking alike, someone\u2019s not thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
And one more.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting with the premise that [customers] are smart and their needs will continue to change is the only way that we will not become a victim of our own success.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Katia Beauchamp, Birchbox<\/p>\n
So like the William Pollard quote above, Beauchamp tells us to beware of entrenched success.\u00a0 A defensive, don\u2019t-rock-the-boat mentality can creep in that will kill innovation.<\/p>\n
Some innovative companies put a fancier handle on innovation and call it Continuous Process Improvement (CPI), but it\u2019s all the same stuff.\u00a0 It\u2019s the idea that we have to constantly look for creative ways to do what we do better\/faster\/cheaper or to change what we do to satisfy changing and evolving customer needs.<\/p>\n
After all, that\u2019s what our competitors are doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fast Company magazine recently hosted the \u201cFast Company Innovation Festival\u201d and invited fifty executives, not only from large well-known companies like GE and Nike, but also from relatively obscure companies like Grey North America and Birchbox, to attend.\u00a0 The only common denominator shared by the participants was they all came from companies known for being<\/p>\n
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