Innovation. It's a word bandied about all the time. Most agree it's a positive thing and business leaders always want more of it.
But despite thousands of books and articles on the topic of innovation and leadership there is no agreed upon set of practices to produce it.
Of course, innovation and leadership are intertwined. A prime focus of leadership is bringing about a better future--more profits, streamlined procedures, and dedicated motivated employees. So, in this way, leaders are necessarily innovators.
Someone who is a mere spectator of the status quo, then, cannot be considered a leader.
Most people equate innovation with change, but that's not the whole story. Change occurs constantly whether we're aware of it or not. A random event, insight, or accident may bring something new to light, but that's not innovation.
What might be learned and applied from some change might lead to innovation, but the chance occurrence is not itself an innovation.
Most people have had the experience of coming up with a "big idea" but doing nothing, only to hear later that someone else with the same idea succeeded in making it a reality just as we had imagined. This is the chief distinguishing factor between a dreamer and an innovator.
The key difference between mere change and innovation is intentionality.
A useful definition : innovation is intentionally implementing a useful change that can be sustained and repeated.
It is always related to a practical value that accomplishes a goal in the real world: new products, processes, or tools which allow people to work better and smarter than they could previously.
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Posted by: supra foot | October 17, 2011 at 05:19 AM