Ideation is not innovation.
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” ~ Thomas Edison
My younger brother cracks me up. He likes to call me when he’s driving somewhere (and bored), and the tête-à-têtes often revolve around one of his breakthrough ideas. He reminds me of Michael Keaton’s character Bill “Blaze” Blazejowski in the movie Night Shift.
If you haven’t seen the film, or, like me, you can’t remember it, here’s a scene with the self-described “idea man” speaking into his personal cassette recorder:
Bill: “Tuna fish? What if you mix mayonnaise right in the can with the tuna fish? Hold it! Hold it! Wait a minute, Chuck. Take live tuna fish… and feed ‘em mayonnaise! Oh, this is good… call Starkist.”
My brother’s ideas aren’t as absurd, but they are quite amusing. What I find most interesting is his mental process, which is fully aligned with the inventor David Levy’s “curse effect:”
“Whenever I hear someone curse, it’s a sign to invent something.”
In my brother’s case that cursing happens between his own ears, and pretty much on a daily basis. I guess one could call him… an ideation machine!
Our conversations typically end soon after he asks my opinion about his concept. And that’s because I immediately move the discussion from ideation to invention to innovation and, like Bill, my brother couldn’t care less. It’s the song in his head that turns him on, and not the eventual dance with reality.
I’ve spent decades innovating and helping others understand and embrace that complex, complicated and dynamic process (and it is a process). It’s a specific sequence of events that goes far beyond thinking up new ideas, regardless of how cool, heartfelt or valuable we imagine those ideas to be.
And why is that?
Why is innovation a deliberate and considered process, and not a lightbulb moment or a simple search for audience insights and relevance? Because if ideas don’t connect with the desires of everyone in a chosen marketplace ecosystem, nothing meaningful will emerge. Understanding that ecosystem and one’s influence, or potential influence, on it, is the essential first step in the innovation process.
And here we are.
We’ve mastered quality, squeezed every drop out of efficiency, and saturated the marketplace with products and services. And now we’re employing advanced information and communication technologies, trying to reshape the very fabric of our marketplace concepts and relations.
So what’s next?
What’s next are relationships. Relationships are about intention and attitude; shared interests, experimentation, movement and growth. Relationships are about how to bring products and services to life in meaningful ways—ways that benefit employees, customers and our communities.
What’s next are ideas about how to add excitement and happiness to people’s lives. Ideas about how to connect people and organizations. What’s next are imaginative vision and thoughtful, inspired action.
What’s next is the dance of innovation.
Stay passionate!