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Turbulent Times are Good Times for Business −
Think Innovation!
by Axel Liebetrau, MBA, expert in Innovation and Future Management
"Innovation" – this word has become somewhat trite or a cliche. It's time to be clear in our minds what we mean with this word. Innovations are novelties, they activate and meet - in spite of finance crisis and cyclical downturns - our insatiable appetite for news. Innovations should be real leaps in quality and in the creation of value. Innovations attract new customers and markets through visionary marketing.
Innovations can also be the result of painful cuts. Innovations rebel against our ingrained habits in the workplace and in our comfort zone thinking. Innovations, if they succeed, are often destructive and mark the end of an adored era.
For example, the change from analogue to digital cameras has changed our photo culture. We use pictures in new ways – like emailing them from our cellphones. There are new digital picture services and databases like Flickr and i-Stockphoto. A revered company such as Leica has nearly become a victim of this development and has not yet recovered from the shock of digitalization.
Do you know how Agfa (a German consumer-imaging company) is earning money today? Their future is in healthcare imaging products, so they sold off their core business photography division in 2004.
In contrast the cell phone business is full of pseudo-innovations. So many things have been promised! But did the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) third generation technologies really give us anything great?
Why you should encourage innovation
Here are three reasons why you should put your innovations into action NOW:
- Innovations - if they are to be effective – need to fix mistakes in the system and stop automating the habitual operational processes.
- Especially in times of crisis, innovation should be encouraged. Understand that a crisis is an unavoidable phase in your growth process and see it as borrowed time in order for you to become more competitive.
- Innovations in boom times are often not taken seriously - like living in cloud cuckoo land and does not have staying power. On the other hand, crisis periods force action and new thinking, ensuring that these innovations score high on the reality fitness test.
For every innovation ask –- what are my idea's advantages?
Remember that the innovations you encourage now, will be your resources for the next boom. Think innovation!
Axel Liebetrau, MBA, is a recognized expert in innovation management and trend and future research. He is based in Germany and speaks internationally.