Innovation is not some exotic, optional extra. It’s a strategic product, brand, organizational and career promising or threatening imperative.

And here’s the problem every one of us in business face today…

We are living through the age of disruption.  Our world today is non-linear, three dimensional and ever changing.  The rate of change is changing.   In this era of hyper-competition and non-stop reinvention, originality has become the litmus test of strategy.  In our real-time connected world where threats from competition can come from anywhere, innovation is the only way to out-perform and lead the pack.

There are tools that can empower your Monday – not the ‘ABC’s” but the “Triple C’s’ to ignite the creative, innovative flame and fan it throughout your organization.  They include:

Culture

– is the foundation upon which the attitude of innovative success is built.  And it’s people who comprise cultures.  Unlike your product or service, your human resources are not and can never become commodities.  Innovations that propel competitive advantage are gained, sustained, or lost by your employees.   Unleashing this innovation within and throughout your organization requires developing a culture that supports and rewards risk, recognizes that uncertainty is the cauldron for opportunity, and considers failure as an inevitable part of the process for success.  I was struck by what Warren Buffet said at a conference.  “ I’m in the business of making mistakes and by taking chances and looking forward I’ll make some. And if I don’t…I’m not in business!”

Collaboration

– no matter how compelling the vision, which is often the result of a single individual, its execution requires collaboration in today’s hyper-competitive, lightening fast world.   The exponential complexity of forces that bear upon successful execution requires engaging interdisciplinary skills, involving unique and unconventional voices, as well as understanding that while collaboration is about consensus and compromise, it’s never about compromising the vision.  Most successful collaborations result from passionate conviction where diverging opinions are respected, argued and solved for the greater good.

Curiosity

– curiosity is the driver that propels reinvention of yourself or your offerings so that success can be sustainable.  In any field, sustained success doesn’t come from an organization imperative to defend your incumbency or just offer competent products and services. It comes from organizations that continuously reshape what the opportunity horizon is for customers, employees, and investors.

Being curious means continuously asking the lead question “what if?” not just “how to” which thwarts innovation.  Asking high quality questions, not easily answered, keeping the eye on the opportunity, not the problem, opens innovative leaders and their organizations to propositions that disrupt the old, create what’s new, and even make history.