photo by: geofones

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.“ - Steve Jobs

An innovative idea isn’t necessarily a completely new one, but rather an improved version of an old idea (improved by introducing something new). Think about it, the iPod wasn’t built from scratch; Apple simply made usual mp3-players appear simpler. The very first light bulb was invented by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan; Edison followed his concept and built the first long-lasting one.

I could continue with lots of other examples, but two are enough to illustrate the point. Great ideas
are
essentially innovative ideasGreat ideas are essentially innovative ideas.

Innovation: the act of creating or introducing something new

So, where do innovative ideas come from?

There are two basic sources for innovative ideas:

1. Being a “natural” innovator
   
2. Following a logical chain that leads to innovation

And while I can’t teach you how to be a natural “natural,” I can tell you the logical chain that leads to highly innovative ideas. And by following the logical chain enough times, you’ll slowly add some “natural” sense to the process.

The logical chain that leads to highly innovative ideas contains five steps:

1. Dissatisfaction
2. Problem-solving
3. Imagination
4. Vision
5. Luck

1. Dissatisfaction

Dissatisfaction is the most important step of the whole process as the rest of the steps usually stem from it.

What do you do when you’re not satisfied by something? You try changing it to fit your needs and thus satisfy you. You wouldn’t have any reason to innovate if it wasn’t for a certain dissatisfaction…

And while nowadays most of our wants are artificially created and sustained by the society we live in, the dissatisfaction principle still applies in attracting innovative ideas.

2. Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is the process of taking corrective action in order to meet objectives. Let’s say that you’re an off-road junkie and want a car that drives well off the roads. The problem is, your current car isn’t really an off-road monster… Naturally, you’ll be looking for ways to fix it, by buying a new car, tuning & tweaking the current one, rebuilding it, etc.

Effective problem-solving ideas have a simple recipe, having only five ingredients:

1. What is the problem?
2. What are the causes of the problem?
3. What are the possible solutions to the problem?
4. Which is the best solution to the problem?
5. What action(s) do I take?

Some of the more effective problem-solving decisions involve some creativity, but you shouldn’t worry if you’re not feeling creative. The above five question step-by-step approach has great repeatable results.

3. Imagination

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will.” - George Bernard Shaw

Imagination is the ability to form mental images, or the ability to sponteneously generate images within one’s own mind. It helps provide meaning to experience and understanding to knowledge and is a fundamental facility through which people make sense of the world. A basic training for imagination is the listening to storytelling (narrative), in which the exactness of the chosen words is the fundamental factor to “evoke worlds.”

Imagination is closely tied to problem-solving, because the best solutions often require a healthy amount of imagination.

Everyone possesses some imagination ability. In some it may be highly developed and in others it may manifest in a weaker form. The good news is that it can always be developed through exercise - as I wrote above, listening to narrative storytelling.

Imagination will help you solve your problem more effectively and satisfy your initial dissatisfaction, but a vision is still a necessary requirement of the process. If you still want to come up with an innovative idea, that is.

4. Vision

“A man without a vision is like a ship’s commander without a destination. If one is to achieve any degree of success he must necessarily have some object in life, that is, a fixed purpose.” - The Dynamo, June 1918

A vision is a clear, concrete guiding picture of the results or condition you want to achieve. And if it is big and inspiring enough, a vision, just by being powerfully stated, can set in motion the energy needed for its own attainment - in this case, getting an innovative idea from a dissatisfaction.

Vision, like self-confidence, isn’t achieved by taking a pill or reading a book. A sense of vision grows out of a set of values, experiences, individual reflections and organizational wisdom and direction. If you see how your work supports and contributes to the larger vision, your work will seem more meaningful and can be more directed.

5. Luck

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” - Seneca

If you’re thinking about the lottery kind of luck, stop. In the business of creating highly innovative ideas, you create your own luck. And you do that by following these five principles:

1. Responsibility
2. Learning from Mistakes
3. Perseverance
4. Confidence
5. Cooperation
   

Business owners who feel that they have had good luck also feel responsible for their own actions. They also don’t see a mistake as a failure. In this regard, let me remind you of Thomas Edison. He had more than 1,000 attempts to invent the first long-lasting electric light bulb that led to bulbs that only stayed lit for a few minutes. Because of that, one of Edison’s colleagues asked him:

- Mr. Edison, don’t you feel
you are a failure?Mr. Edison, don’t you feel you are a failure? Lacking any sense of vanity, he answered:

- Not at all. Now, I definitely know more than a thousand ways how NOT to make a light bulb.

Sure enough, just a few days later, he turned his inspiration into a practical concept.

But, as I wrote in the opening paragraphs, the very first light bulb was invented by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, who demonstrated the theoretical concept but gave up trying to develop a practical application after only three attempts. Edison made his own good luck through perseverance and designed a working light bulb.

Whether or not one can create good luck basically depends on his attitude towards oneself, towards others and towards life. It is also connected to the perception that luck is more of a cause rather than an effect. And above all, it is tied to the realization that one must make oneself the creator of the conditions that foster success and the achievement of specific, visualized goals.

The part in which you mix all these…

…is the part when the highly innovative idea is likely to come to you. Just find an idea that misses on one (or more) of these five ingredients and complete it.

You’d be amazed to discover how many brilliant ideas are underused out there. By simply analyzing and adding the “ingredient” that is missing, you could turn a simple idea into something with a really huge potential.

Think about Apple and their iPhone…

If you're new here and have found useful information, please subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up for free Email updates. There are daily updates and you should stay tuned. Thanks for visiting!

Previous/Next Articles: « Ten things to follow for a joyolicious Christmas! | Seeing is believing? | Life consequences & visual illusions »

Posted in Success, Tips