On Innovation

Ken Coleman was busting my chops yesterday at the podcast recording about my job title - director of innovation and experience. Tons of pressure, he said, to do something innovative. And he's right. So I wanted to give my take on innovation...

If you do something innovative and then do it again and again for years on end, it's no longer innovative. So my job is to sabotage sacred cows that threaten the future. I don't want us to wake up someday with an organization that is taken for granted. The hardest plan to change is the one that worked in the past. So to be innovative is to stick my neck out and put myself at risk for unproven ideas.

It's to experiment at the highest levels of excellence and learn quickly from mistakes. No one recognizes innovation while it's innovating, so it's about living in obscurity before ideas take off. My job is to fight for ideas that I'm not even sure will work, but pound on conference room tables and create sound financial models as if I do. It's to help create a culture of progress, which comes with never being satisfied.

It's to identify the talents of others and put them in the right seats. It's to see the future before anyone else and pinpoint the trajectory of trends in culture. In the end, the greatest innovations are those that seem obvious. Why didn't anyone think of that before?

Tons of pressure... but what a job.

Comments

[Abby]

Did you say that you were an N? I am, but struggle with the courage to fight nay-sayers. I think that this role will allow you to blaze a fresh trail for those who want to be in front of the wave.

[Jonathan Brink]

Isn't it also your role to help people dream and discover something more valuable that they can't currently see. Innovation seems to be a move towards the more valuable at the expense of the familiar. I'd kill (not really) for a job like yours.

[Kirk Longhofer]

So, tell me about your boss? What kind of backup do you get as the designated change agent?

[Pete Wilson]

What a job Ben. Sounds like you were made for this one!

[Rob Shepherd]

Great post! I've been telling Chad Johnson for years that Catalyst needs to find the next Reggie and Lanny and have them try to take over at Catalyst. Those two are AMAZING, but how fun would it be to see someone take on Lanny at his own stunts? Plus isn't Catalyst all about the next generation leader? Think about it.

[Jumaine Jones]

Hey Ben:

Good stuff. Speaking about innovation, just saw an article that referenced something we spoke about over a year ago. The demands for town centers are increasing because of gas prices ;-)

[Clayton Bell]

That WiBo neck-sticking seemed to turn our pretty dang well. I can't wait to see what's next from you!

[Joshua Cryer]

What would you say is the difference between advertising hype and inovation?

[Ben Arment]

Josh, innovation is creating a car that parallel parks itself. Advertising is placing the ad on NBC primetime to promote it.