Getting past the Buzzwords — Understanding Innovation
Think about the last time you heard the word innovation. It won’t be hard, because I guarantee it hasn’t been long — Innovation has become the endlessly repeated mantra of every business blogger and guru of the tech sector. In other words, innovation is now a buzzword, and that represents a serious problem.
That problem starts with a buzzwords’ limited shelf life.
The more the word gets used, the shorter its time in the spotlight, and innovation is already well on its way to becoming a casualty of its own popularity. If innovation was no longer a useful or applicable idea, then this wouldn’t be an issue. Instead, companies require innovative solutions now more than ever.
To the many companies scrambling to catch up, there’s rarely enough time to fully understand the bandwagon they’re hopping on. Constant repetition of a buzzword by people who don’t understand the term causes the meaning to shift. Innovation goes from representing complex ideas about change and adaptation to simply being a stand-in for being current.
When a term begins to serve as a code word for marketers to hook potential clients, it ceases to have specific descriptive value.
Words don’t have inherent value or meaning — they’re just sounds we make with our vocal chords or symbols we write down. It is only through the act of interpretation and thought that we ascribe meaning. When a term becomes popularized, used in every circumstance and situation, the meaning is lost. When a term is used to describe everything, it ultimately describes nothing.
Let’s go back to the root of this term. The most important aspect in Innovation is change. Innovation is more specific than that, but it’s how a company handles change that defines the sort of agile, innovative approach that is so sought after. Tech buzzwords of the previous decades, like the much maligned “paradigm shift”, all have that same root. The same ideas about change with a different name.
Simply repeating the need for innovation at your company isn’t going to make it any more likely, no more so than chanting “Bloody Mary” is going to summon a ghost into your mirror. To actually make innovation happen, the first thing you have to accept is that you don’t already know the answer. Applying innovation purposefully and productively takes time and dedication, and most of all a comprehensive understanding of the situation. Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation, it needs insight from every aspect of your business, from frontline customer service to systems engineering. It’s the reason tools like Focus21’s Applied Innovation Workshop exist, to provide a space where innovative ideas can be cultivated.
Applied innovation is change with purpose, and the results of this kind of work are by their very definition unexpected. However, that’s exactly what you need to stay ahead of the game. So when it comes to innovation, don’t simply spout it like another dying buzzword. Take it to heart, apply it in your work, and stay agile in a world of lumbering corporate giants.
With innovation at the height of its popularity, we’re perfectly poised to see the next crop of industry buzzwords start to crop up at the periphery. What do you think will be the buzzwords of the next decade, a term that’s starting to put you on edge every time you hear it? More importantly, how do you see the buzzword watering down an important idea?
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