05/05/2020

Daily Buzz: Are You Ready for Innovation?

It takes the right mindset to bring real change

In business, innovation can be the key to continued success. But it’s not necessarily the fix for everything.

“Many business leaders are turning to innovation as the answer—thinking (albeit misguidedly) that it’s the solution to all their problems. Whether they need to grow market share, reduce costs, or reinvent their brand, their default is ‘Let’s innovate!’” said Chuck Swoboda in Forbes.

Before you declare innovation the solution to your problem, Swoboda suggested asking yourself a few questions to determine whether you and your organization have what it takes to achieve real change. For one, consider whether everyone on your team is willing to go all in.

“Backup plans and contingencies certainly have their place in running a business, but not in innovation—where they have negative value," Swoboda said. "When people believe there’s an alternative path—one that is ‘good enough’—they’ll invariably choose it when faced with difficult problems.”

Also ask yourself if you’re willing to disrupt your organization, since innovation will inevitably require major changes to business operations. 

“As investors like to say, ‘Past performance is not indicative of future results.’ Innovation is no different; in fact, it obliges you to go beyond what made your business successful in the past,” Swoboda said.

If you can answer, “yes,” to such questions, then innovation is probably a good solution, he said.