Do Your Innovation Efforts Work?

January 21, 2009  

Sometimes the question you ask is more important than the actions you take.

During President Obama’s inauguration speech, he said…

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”

This is brilliant in its simplicity.  The same thought applies to innovation.

The question you need to ask is not whether you are developing creative products, processes or business ideas, but whether your innovation efforts work – whether they serve your customers, serve your employees, and ultimately serve your shareholders.

Innovation is not about change for change sake.  It is about purposeful change that creates value that reduces costs, increases sales, or improves cash flow.

In these troubling times, asking the right question is more important than ever.  Do your innovation efforts work?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you found this article useful or interesting, please press the "Like" button and post a Facebook comment below

Filed Under Innovation
Tagged: , ,

Old Comments

One Response to “Do Your Innovation Efforts Work?”

  1. Ariel on January 21st, 2009 3:33 pm

    Steve,

    I couldn’t agree with you more. Sometimes supercharging innovation can be as simple of doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t. It’s simple, it’s not necessarily easy.

    Thank you for sharing.