I recently read an article “Ted Talks are all Lying to You” wherein the author was opining that our standard literature around creativity and innovation in the business domain is complete rubbish. The article is an interesting read, but at the end of the day, creativity is not what most people in business do – they do opportunity. Opportunity is all about taking the stuff that we already know, do and have, and finding ways to get paid more for it.
Innovation and Opportunity
Innovation in business often comes from opportunity. As we are “doing opportunity” we see a way to get paid, that we currently don’t do, exactly. A client has a need that we can’t fill. A client has an interesting but awkward use for an existing product that leads us to make a new product more attenuated to that use. We see an opportunity to reduce cost (increase profitability) by radically simplifying a production process.Continue Reading