Words like innovation can feel overwhelming, Josh Linkner, innovation speaker, entrepreneur and author, said at a meeting I recently attended. Instead of being overwhelmed by it, he suggested figuring out how it applies to your business. He said that what innovation really means is applying creative problem solving throughout your organization.
“When facing an opportunity, challenge or threat, a pause gives you a chance to express creativity,” Linkner said. “The research is clear that as human beings we all have creative capacity. We can express creativity in many ways.”
Because we are living in an unprecedented time, with a pace of change we have not seen before, he said we must “double down on creativity.”
“If all we do is all we know today we are only going to get 70% of the way there; the remaining 30% is the creativity gap. That 30% is an opportunity to out punch the competition," Linkner added.
According to Linkner, there are five core mindsets of everyday innovators:
- Find a way: Innovators are not necessarily smarter than we are, but when they see a barrier, they think there is a way to solve it, he said
- Upgrade it: Everyday innovators are dissatisfied with status quo. They ask, “How can I constantly upgrade it?” They do it with processes, systems and approaches. They start over to stay relevant. Linkner told the audience to look at how many times they say, “that is just the way we do it.” That is an opportunity for you to upgrade it.
- Defy traditions: According to Linkner, traditions in business can be deadly. “We overestimate the risk of trying something new but underestimate the risk of standing still.” He explained that people think if they have fewer resources creativity will suffer. “The reality is when have less we can’t rely on what worked in the past. Creativity soars.”
- Seek the unexpected: There is an expected approach you can take every day. “When we look at people we revere, they made their mark on world by doing the unexpected. Try odd ball, weird, off beat unorthodox ideas. Those leave their mark.”
- Bounce back: The creators we celebrate know they are not always going to get it right, Linkner reminded the audience. “When you fail that is the time to double down on creativity. Creative confidence does not mean you are going to do everything right, it means you will bounce back.”
Linkner concluded his presentation with an innovation challenge.
“Over the next seven days make a tiny change, inject a small amount of creativity. This builds habits which build momentum. When we try huge things, it is a big risk; rather try constant little experiments, knowing four of five will fail. Double down on the ones that work.”
