Innovation is not rocket surgery. It's a manageable process you can do on purpose.
We know this because Thomas Edison did it very well starting not in this century, not in the 20th century, but in the 19th century. He assembled a group of muckers (they mucked around) all in one big room in Menlo Park. He set a goal of inventing one major invention every 6 months and one minor one every 10 days. He brought in all kinds of materials for the muckers to muck with and to figure out new uses for as they worked in the railroad, telegraphy, mining, and electric light industry. The muckers cross-pollinated, making connections and applying what they learned from one project to another.
Edison had individuals who recorded all ideas and trials. He had a pretty straightforward evaluation process--it had to be something they could sell (he had been burned on his first patented invention--a device to help legislators vote, which was rejected by the lawmakers--and vowed that he would never invent anything else that he couldn't sell). He was well connected to help launch his inventions and readily formed businesses to do so. He built whole products (way before Geoffrey Moore brought the idea to us in Crossing the Chasm); although he is credited with inventing the light bulb, his true contribution was the whole product around the light bulb--a longer lasting filament, a socket so the light bulb could be easily held in place, and the electrical distribution system to bring electricity to people buying the light bulb.
He also launched products in such a way as to make them well known; for example, when launching the light bulb by throwing a switch to illuminate 150 lights, his audience was JP Morgan and Wall Street--thus guaranteeing that his whole product was put in front of customers who could make it a success. His colleagues help create the persona Edison so that people could identify with a person rather than a company.
Basically, Edison set the model that is being rediscovered today. And he succeeded--in the first six years he patented some 400 inventions. Interested in learning more? I suggest starting with Edison articles at the Henry Ford and the IEEE Virtual Museum, and Andrew Hargadon's excellent book How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate.
At The Front End of Innovation conference a couple weeks back there were many presentations and discussions on managing innovation. Remarkably, almost everything discussed happened at Menlo Park. Making connections, establishing a culture to innovate, allowing people to fail (remember "I didn't fail, I found out 1800 ways not to make a light bulb"?), generating ideas, capturing ideas, evaluating ideas, developing ideas, and launching ideas--all of these are being rediscovered as we move into an era where innovation has become one of the top five most strategic topics for organizations. And, although over 70% of CEOs identify it as such, most organizations are not measuring or compensating for innovation, treating it as a black art. We manage projects, sales pipelines, quality, finances, and all other key business components--almost all related to costs and efficiency. But we do a haphazard job at managing the area most important to growth--innovation.
Here we're going to explore the facets of innovation. Some will be based on research (heck, there's been over 100 books published this past year alone on innovation), some on current and past projects, and a lot on people who innovate on purpose everyday. We'll make connections and talk about how to innovate on purpose and how to learn from really messing things up. We'll explore thoughts, processes and people. I hope you will contribute, experiment, and innovate as well.
Let's launch the rocket.
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