The True Purpose of Innovation

0. Abstract

In this note, I want to explore the true purpose of innovation. So many times, we fall into the trap of pursuing practices for their own sake. I believe we can explore a bit more our purpose and intentions. Here is how.

1. Innovation for Innovation’s sake.

This note is heavily inspired by the wonderful conversation I had with My dear friend David Clementoni. You can check out our discussion on my podcast episode here.

At the risk of sounding Philosophical or Utopian, I feel I need to share these thoughts on innovation. As I wrote in one of the previous notes, I often encounter companies and organizations with a pretty cynical approach to Innovation and Business-Design in general.

This is quite unfortunate because I can guarantee you that in my 20+ years in the Strategic Design and Education Business, I have never seen an organization achieve sustainable growth with such an attitude.

2. Why do we innovate?

One of the most challenging questions I get asked from students and executives. Is this? Why do we innovate? Or why do we need to innovate? This is a tricky question.

It is one of those simple but profound questions I absolutely love to get lost in.

This is also one of the most challenging questions I ask Entrepreneurs and Executives that I advise. I know I'm a tough cookie. My students always say that I give them Prof. G's tough love. They also had a term for that in critiques. They said "Got hit with some GLove," But that's another story.

So, why do we innovate? Is it to make money? To stay ahead of the competition? To make our organizaton grow? To make good in the world? The answer is all the above, but is that it? I'm not satisfied with that.

3. Digging Deeper and Deeper

One of the most important skills I have gained in my time as an engineer is the ability to system think and to dig deep into a problem with what Aristotle called the First Principle Thinking. This two mode of thinking allows you to 1. Understand how a complex system works and 2. How to reach the root cause of a problem.

I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this question.

Why do we actually innovate? I'll spare you the long version of this though process, but the result is this. This is what I realized. No matter the sector, Industry, or product.

We innovate to elevate the human-condition.

Now I know you might think "Really? Is this what you came up with?" YES! That's it. We innovate to elevate the human condition. This is my fundamental truth.

But… I know there are a million buts, but this is my fundamental truth.

Now, often we forget about this.

We get caught up in the Bits and Bytes of how things work. In the pursued of efficiency and all that HOW and WHAT, but as Simon Synek would say this is the ultimate WHY!. Follow me for a second.

The Ultimate Why!

Every single company or industry was born to pursue this why.

Even Industries that today we deem "evil" like the Coal industry for instance, they began trying to elevate the human condition of providing heat and energy into everyone home.

The Pharmaceutical Industry was originally born to make us healthier and live longer.

Even the nowadays demonized social media Industry was born with the good intention of connecting people out of reach. So, it goes for Banks, Stock Markets, Fast Food, Technology, you name it.

4. When the Levee Breaks

As I'm writhing this note, this is pumping into my ears: When the Levee Breaks

Coincidence? Who knows.

If it keeps on raining', levee's going' to break … No, cryin' won't help you, praying' won't do you no good.

So, when does the system gets broken?

When is it that we do more harm than good?

When is it that our work becomes dreadful?

It is when we lose focus of our ultimate WHY.

When we stop pursuing Innovation for the right reasons.

This is "when the levee breaks".

The coal industry enabled us to distribute energy and heat on a global scale, preventing us to freeze or starve during winter. Now this industry is no longer Elevating the Human condition. It's actually harming it.

So, what should we do about it? Well, we must ask ourselves now that we achieve this, what will be the next step that will elevate our condition even further?

Instead, we so often fall into the trap of becoming complacent and content.

"Eh! This is good enough as it is”. This is when we start downward spiraling. This is when we get as far as possible from innovation or evolution for that matter.

Sometimes we just get too greedy to pursue the greater good.

How we can apply this in our day-to-day and in our organization?

We must constantly ask ourselves the following simple question.

Is our organization growing as it should?

Like I wrote in a previous note (note 012) real growth is not only about revenues.

To answer this question, I've developed the 5P's Index.

I won’t deny that as I’m writing this note I have a subtle grin as there is a bit of hedonism in the creation of an index that matches perfectly my last name.

Cinque (5) Palmi (P). Happy coincidence or subconscious egocentrism, I guess we will never know. ;-)

If the answer is NO, chances are that one or more of these pillars are not aligned or operating at their full potential.

The true pillars (5P's) of growth are

1. Purpose

2. People

3. Processes,

4. Products, and

5. Practices.

5. Alignment is everything.

Only when our Purpose is clearly defined, distribute and our People accepted it, made such purpose their own and are willing to put in time and effort in creating efficient and effective Processes that create remarkable Products and made "constant improvement" their daily Practice. Only then our organization will truly prosper, sustainably growing.

I understand that this process might sound daunting and in some areas or even Philosophical or Utopian, but believe me. I have been working with some Organisations that had lost hope and believed that things would never change.

By working closely with the top management and simply allying the organization Strategic Objectives with the Team Efforts we saw amazing results in matter of days not weeks or months.

When all the pillars are alligned and operating at their full potential our organization can acheive the ultimate that in Blue Ocean Strategy we call Vaule-Innovatio. This is where our organization is capable of Reduce Cost and Increase Value.

From Blue Ocean Strategy

"Cost savings are made by eliminating and reducing the factors an industry competes on. Buyer value is lifted by raising and creating elements the industry has never offered."

If you are interested to create such alignment and Reduce Cost and Increase Value. don't hesitate to contact me.