Create value with an innovative mindset

We’ve all been sold on the idea of the inventor. The person sitting in isolation lets lightning strike to pull magic from thin air. We’re convinced that genius comes randomly to the gifted and not to merely the persistent. I think that’s mostly a pretense. It’s a story we tell ourselves because we’re afraid of failure as much as we’re scared of success and what that might mean. So we’ve convinced ourselves that only a select few might have the answers.

The invention is about the inventor, while innovation is about the person who lives with the product or idea at the end of the story.

What’s the difference between invention and innovation? We’re used to discussing the inventor as the sole proprietor of value and change in our worlds. It’s the inventor who creates meaningful solutions to what ails us. The subtle difference between invention and innovation gets lost in that story. The invention is about the inventor, while innovation is about the person who lives with the product or idea at the end of the story. Innovation creates an idea at the intersection of feasible, sustainable, and desirable. It’s something that can be done, last, and enjoyed.

Innovation is first about empathy for someone else.

Innovation is about taking something and changing it to make it more valuable for someone else. Maybe that’s a piece of technology, workflow, or knowledge. To be innovative, the innovator has to understand what the person on the other side of the equation hopes for; they have to be aware of and recognize the opportunities to create value for another person. It’s about empathy.

So we talk about innovation and how we move forward as a society. We talk about innovative companies and often think about technology, the internet, and our relationship with both. When we talk about design, the first thing that often comes to mind is aesthetics, fashion, and “art” - or at least assumptions about what art is. Design and innovation are inseparable. If innovation is the process of making something more valuable, design is the process by which value is first understood.

Innovation is built through mindset, message, and movement.

Mindset: being curious, aware, and open-minded.
Message: First, listen and synthesize simple and powerful statements that others can use to join in.
Movement: A willingness to act before you feel ready. To acknowledge that feedback is how to make your ideas more valuable and thus more innovative.

Without design, innovation would merely be building. You can build the most technically perfect solution, but what's the point if it isn’t desired or valued by anybody?