There’s a quote that I’m pondering today. I got it from the book Business Stripped Bare by Richard Branson of Virgin fame (good book by the way). Here’s the quote that grabbed me: “Innovation is often what you didn’t know you wanted until you got it.”
To me, that means innovation is a retrospective concept. You may start with a vision, but often times it’s simply a “project,” or a “goal” or even sometimes an “accident” while you’re doing it. But afterward, looking back on an initiative that produced a great result, you might consider it an innovation.
It also means that innovation comes from experimentation. It comes from trying new things—sometimes just for the sake of trying new things—and seeing if something great comes from it. It comes from letting a project take its own path, rather than forcing it down the path you had predicted or prescribed.
So you want to be more innovative? Then don’t set out forcing yourself to be innovative. Set out to try new things, see what works, and ask “why does it have to be that way?” as often as possible. And if you don’t produce an innovation the first time, that’s OK, because you’ll always have at least one side benefit: your life will be more interesting and more fun, and you’ll learn a lot.
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These are the word that I try to live by.
“Seize this very minute; what you can do, or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I figure you can talk about it or you can do it. Doing it is so much more interesting!
Those are great words to live by. And I believe that the more you focus on being a “do-er” the more innovation you will produce. Very encouraging–thank you for sharing your quote!
Much in line with my favorite quote on innovation:
If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse.
Henry Ford
Amy, I’m so glad you bring up that quote! That’s one of my favorites as well–and it’s exactly how I feel when it comes to financial innovation.