You may have heard the saying "Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die". Innovation is similar because it seems everyone wants to innovate but nobody wants to change. By definition, innovation is "that which is newly introduced; a change". Inventions are innovative and many believe innovation is crucial for long lasting success. Whether changed by discovery or invention, 100 years ago we did not have: Motion Pictures, Air Conditioners, Bras, Zippers, Insulin, Penicillin, X-Rays, MRI, Air travel, Helicopters, Photo Copiers, Microwaves, Television, Computers, or even Credit Cards. 100 years ago there was no income tax and average life expectancy was less than 50 years. Transistor and microchip work in the 1950's and beyond revolutionized the lives of everyone on the planet in just 50 years. The World Wide Web didn't even exist 20 years ago, let alone all the on-line networking activities far beyond E-mail. Many smart business consultants teach "Innovate or Die". The pace of change in all aspects of our lives require that attention is paid to the marketplace of ideas.Can you imagine owning a business 15 years ago renting VHS movies and deciding that new DVD invention in 1995 would never catch on? All the items mentioned above matter because they did catch on, meaning the marketplace changed. There was a competing format to DVD named Beta, but most people have already forgotten it. Waiting for innovation to become clear or choosing early is often a huge financial decision. Choosing wrong can be a financial disaster for people and businesses. Choosing correctly can be a huge financial gain for them. Creating the innovation, and/or creating the marketplace for innovative items that follow can also be very rewarding. Bill Gates with Microsoft did not invent the computer or software, but he made the most money (so far) from computers. Change occurs so often in business, many corporations have training programs in "change management". Conversions to different methods, systems, or attitudes must occur. That acceptance is as important to innovation as the actual innovation itself.
Influential people are those that have exercised the change or direction of change in others. The recognition of innovations and inventions has to be augmented with the knowledge of who the most influential people are that will steer the change. Becoming one of those influencers is highly desirable (see the May 2008 edition of this blog). As change is constant, leaders and managers react or respond to multiple changes all the time. Unlike the past, which can be researched, reviewed and studied, the the future is unknown. Historians study the past to put the present into context. Futurists study the present to put the future into context. By the way, reform is the same as innovation but more precisely a change to what already exists, rather than an invention or discovery. The wisdom of innovation and reform is understanding that as everything changes around them and as a result change them, people don't want to change. Resistance to change is not something to be overcome, it is something to be leveraged with small incremental steps. Since change involves risk, take on the argument of risk of those steps directly to be influential.
The United States is going through an enormous fight over the future of health care in the country. The influential leader of the CHANGE NOW group is President Barak Obama. He seems to have forgotten the first rule an influencer has to leverage. Risk of change is always greater than the risk of standing still, or at least that is the approach to life that the vast majority of people take. He and his group have failed at describing how life will be more difficult if NO CHANGE takes place. A second key to leveraging resistance is to provide a role model for desired new activity. Those fighting the President's plan provided examples from Canada and Europe where the proposed change caused bad things to happen to people, but no role model of positive change emerged. The third key to understanding resistance to change is that people feel overwhelmed and overloaded by the details of change. Instead of presenting a simple plan with slight adjustments over time, a legislative bill of 1300 pages and growing raised the resistance of the healthy skeptics and caused concern about hidden agendas of the reformers. Innovation in health care coverage is not likely with the current approach. These same rules apply to any other innovation or reform you are responsible for persuading people about.
Laws and principles are beyond innovation. Newton discovered the Law of Gravity, but could not change it. The Golden Rule Jesus described in Matthew 7:12 has been true for over 2000 years, and will not change. Discernment is needed to tell the difference between innovations that will affect the future, and those that violate principles or laws and can not succeed. Looking for a better way to accomplish something can lead to efficiency and is a good thing. The probability of future success can be discerned with study and understanding (see the July 2009 edition of this blog on the subject of framing). Change is constant, but not all change will last. Change is constant, but not all change is good. Innovations are those things that have been newly introduced by you or others. The marketing of the idea (see the April 1st, 2009 edition of this blog) or product is also important to the future success of it. Peer into the future as the futurists do by analyzing the present. Understand human nature as the influencers do. Grasp firmly what you care about and innovate in the marketplace of ideas, as I am with this edition of Wilkins Wisdom.
