When we think of disruptive innovation the mind tends to conjure a scenario where some researcher in a pristine lab suddenly shouts “eureka!” as he or she happens upon a solution to some mind boggling problem. We are led to believe as children that innovations like the telegraph, telephone, and even electricity were discovered almost by chance. As we grow older we slowly realize that in most cases the answers to our questions are much more elusive than those layman examples suggest.
In reality, creativity and innovation are so entwined with the foundation of genuine work that I wonder at times if we should even use the words. We are constantly inundated with a call to arms to innovate and think creatively and “out of the box”. We have managers that build colorful presentations outlining our performance that attempt to illuminate our opportunities and potential. Our employers outline opportunities and challenges in the business environments with charts and graphs. These communications all end in much the same way. We must innovate, overcome, synergize, and find creative solutions. I feel I must counter the concept that innovation is less about what we do today and tomorrow than it was about what we did yesterday. We cannot begin to innovate and create today unless we have prepared for success yesterday, last week, last month etc.
The truth is that we are constantly preparing, planning, executing, measuring, refining. We do this because creativity and innovation isn't a happy accident. There are very few examples where some epiphany simply struck us and we had all the answers in one glorious flash of brilliance. Only through the scientific process do we find the answers to those elusive questions. There simply are no shortcuts. Some believe that innovation and creativity end with an idea. The truth is that the idea is simply the catalyst where we begin to formulate new ways of thinking. Ideas challenge our paradigms and force us to question long held beliefs, or at least they should. The Idea is where all the real work begins as we formulate plans to develop those abstract ideas into concrete processes, products, or solutions.
As we go through our day we should remember that the work we do today will have a direct and profound effect on our capability to succeed tomorrow. We can never go back and redo yesterday, we simply don’t get a second chance. The ability to innovate is tied directly with our individual and collective knowledge and experience. The very knowledge and experience we gained yesterday.
“Fill this day with worthy work and the days that follow will take care of themselves”
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