Monday 5 September 2011
Innovation ... or failing quickly
Good morning Wonderful People
As many of you already know SHE Business is a partner of Commonwealth Bank Women in Focus and last week I had the pleasure of attending their 2nd Annual Conference. We heard from some amazing people on incredibly diverse subjects - we were inspired by Ronni Khan from OzHarvest and Cathy Burke from The Hunger Project, we were entertained by Andy Lark and Emma Lo Russo as they explored the social media rampage and we were given business insights from Deloittes, McKinseys and the chief economist from the Commonwealth Bank.
We heard from people traversing a constantly changing business market and the sort of attitude and skills required to do it successfully. Innovating and having a structure for innovation was given as a core ingredient for success so having heard it from the experts I thought I'd share their 6 top tips:
1. Innovation is the oxygen of progress - eloquent and so very true.
2. Innovation has altered the conventional business lifecycle - it's called the 3 Horizon Model
Horizon 1 - The business of today
Horizon 2 - The business of tomorrow
Horizon 3 - The business of the day after tomorrow (this is where breakthrough innovation occurs)
An attendee at the conference who had previously been using the old business model was able to clearly project the end of a lifecycle of one of her products by using this new model.
3. Failure is inherent in innovation - get ready to learn the valuable lessons and get used to processing failure powerfully.
4. Testing the market is integral to innovation: setup, prototype, test the market, refine and retest, evaluate your findings.
5. Innovation is required in 3 areas of business - People, Processes and Technologies
6. Diversity is key to innovation
Innovation is key whether you're providing products or services, whether you service B2B or B2C. If you've previously viewed innovation as something only technology companies need to consider, think again. Creating a culture of creativity and innovation is an essential tool for business success.
For me the greatest 'take out' was being able to create a powerful framework for failure! We all need to be prepared to test the market and if somethings not working be prepared to pull it from market without worrying about what others may think. The most successful entrepreneurs understand that 99% of success is failure.
Have you been successfully innovating in your business and do you have a structure for innovation?
Love to hear your thoughts.
PS Creating powerful contexts for honest and open discussion is just one of the benefits of a SHE Business membership, why not find your nearest chapter and discover what else a SHE Business membership can do for your business.
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3 comments:
Making mistakes...absolutely. Here's a recent TED talk with another perspective on how making mistakes shouldn't be underestimated: http://on.ted.com/9e6L
Innovation is also very hard to achieve on your own. Being aware of and involving different roles as part of an innovation 'team' can mean the difference between an exciting idea and a successful project with tangible outcomes. Who are the architects, builders, inhabitants, engineers, town planners and vandals of innovative ideas in your world?
Failure is inherent in innovation - love this! We got so scared about making mistakes that we never take any action.
What a great post Suzy. I think so many of us business women forget that 99% of success is failure and what's worse is that we chastise ourselves for not winning 100% of the time. No-one can achieve that.
So expect to fail sometimes, in fact go at it relishing how spectacularly you might fail and maybe you might pull an innovation rabbit out of the hat. And if not, pick yourself up, brush yourself off (have some wine) and think only 98 times to go.
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