May 30, 2010

3 Golden Rules of Innovation - My Experience

Hello Friends,


The market is changing frantically, making it more aligned to the changing needs of the customers.

But the true thing is there is a bigger picture which is created due to percolating mentality of the higher management which conceives the innovation. The term "innovation" is changing in recent days and its mainly due to the remorse mentality and pale focus towards the new trends.


Now the million dollar question rises that is innovation is heading towards the right direction or its just a term which is still in the process of understanding?

The answer lies in the attitude of the people. It applies to all the people in the pyramid right from the bottom to the top. Every member should be actively involved in the creation of the new innovative business process or service implementation.

Journey from Deception to Real Innovation:

I might sound weird but this is what I have faced in my 2.5+ years of experience in Telecom Innovation Lab of Tata Consultancy Service. When there is any kind of incubation of idea, there is always some kind of inconsistency arises between the business alignment and the success of the innovation. People often makes fun of you by saying that innovation is too big thing for the freshers like you.

It made me wonder that why people cultivate such kind of mentality. People usually thinks that innovation is the duty of scientists or PhD people. If you do not have that knowledge, you are not fit to innovate the idea or create new things. 

By this thoughts, you are blocking the process of innovation and creating a mindset among the fresh minds to follow linear thinking rather than trying for unconventional approach towards the problem. The aspect of lateral thinking comes to a complete standstill and your mind gets rusted with the routine work.

Everyone says that to stay fit, you need to do exercise. But the same thing applies to your brain. We never try to question things, and by any means, try to question the process, are made fun by our friends. They often says that you are not Newton or Einstein that you will discover things.

I just want to say them one thing. NO, I am not a scientist but I have every right to use my knowledge which I have gained over these years and question the existing process. Sometimes, a stupid thought can create new innovative business model. You just need to think out of the box.

Measuring Innovation:

The second problem which I have faced is to quantify innovation. Guys, wake up. You need to understand that there in never a timeline for innovation. You just cannot put a gun of some one's head and make sure that there is innovative idea in return. You just cannot get things back in a specific time frame. You need patience to get the desired results. This lead to one complicated theory. The characters include higher management who funds the innovation and the people  who has the duty to find new things and to innovate.

Fostering innovation is a difficult process and it becomes complicated when external factors like business model creation comes into picture. You just cannot find a business model on every innovation. Its the first step to improve the process. Once the process significantly improves, there will be visible amount of profit for the company.

Avoid Vicious Circle in Ideation:

This is also one of the bigger aspect of ideation procedure. People who are amateur or highly experts tend to involve so much into the process that they tend to repeat the mistakes again and again. They try to evolve the idea on the same lines without thinking anything new. 

The only way to avoid this, is to just get a break and try to read about other's innovative ideas and try to mould your thoughts on their aspects. You can ask question to yourself for the success of various ideas and their evolution. This will give you a way to think beyond your scope and you will improve significantly.

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I would like to say one more thing. 

No One Is Born Brilliant. Its The Knowledge Which Gives You Power To Think "Out Of The Box". Use It Wisely.


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Hardik Upadhyay


Twitter - @HardikUpadhyay

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