When you think of all the product innovations in our human experience over the last decade, and the speed in which these innovations happen, it seems surreal. Our modern world changes so much faster than many of us can process and meaningfully integrate into our lives. Still, innovate or die continues to be the mantra for business growth.
Just because a product is new or novel does not necessarily make it useful, necessary, or valuable. Every company wants to be perceived as innovative in their product development. The truth is many companies struggle to be innovative in ways that are game-changers for their long-term success. The reason for this is simple. Many companies innovate around themselves, bringing to market only incremental innovation that can produced in strict cost structures, rather than developing a deeper and richer understanding of what people really care about.
Modern companies innovate around life experiences and meanings rather than competitive or functional features and benefits.
The process of innovation in these enterprises is centered in a deep desire to serve the well being of people–to make life a little better. To do that well requires insight and empathy in equal measure. Modern companies view the process of innovation as something sacred and transcendent of the physics of their organizations. Innovation is hard-wired into the culture of modern organizations. It’s not a practice that can be mandated, it is inspired right along with failure. Modern companies know there is no such thing as failure in innovation, there is only learning. Thomas Edison proved that over a century ago.
The old cliché there’s nothing new under the sun has never been a more accurate description of our over-crowded marketplace. The physical stuff of innovation (capital, raw materials, machines, markets) seems to be always available, however the availability of physical resources won’t make companies more innovative. The greatest assets for innovation come from the non physical, the formless. Modern companies harness the creative power of ideas, intuition, inspiration, imagination, insight and circumstance that form a proposal to customers. Which shows up in product forms that are unexpected, uniquely useful, loved, and are perceived as being of greater value. Innovation is both strategy and tactic, and organizations can learn to become very good at both to create sustained competitive advantage.
People have more choices in the marketplace than ever before in human history. Bringing more products to market with more features just adds to the slush pile.
More and better product functions and features does not equate to innovation and competitive advantage. With very few exceptions everything works. That’s the ante, not the differentiator. Innovation is about serving the needs of others first. Innovation is a consciousness, not an event or action step. Of course, the lasting benefit of innovating around real life experiences is the marketing gets baked into the product, with the end result being people gathered into communities, embedding it’s meaning into their own life expressions, and sharing this value with others.
Enlightened companies who lead markets shift their focus from counting transactions to innovating scintillating, dramatic, novel, relevant, transformative experiences that matter to people.
