The truth about innovation

People care more about what new they can do as opposed to what problem they can solve.
It's true.We are so smitten by the novelty of things that we staunchly believe innovation to be"creating something new".If it's new, it's cool !
But if you really go subcutaneous on every innovation - they are solving some problems or addressing unmet needs.Picking up some examples from day to day life :
# cup holders, power windows, remote locking, windshield sprayer in cars
# laptops, lighter laptops, smaller laptops, even small laptops with better battery
# modular kitchen
# ziploc bags
# hand blenders
# multiple doors, external display in refrigerators
# split a/c units
# the iphone

.. to name a few. Now just as you scan this short list, what is the most interesting but common thing that strikes you ? Each of these features / products shakes the industry, becomes the coolest thing around and then goes on to be the de-facto standard or even a hygiene factor if you will.
And that's the beauty of solving a problem.Innovation and coolness become an easy beneficial side-effect.

I mean Apple did not go on and say, let's make an incomprehensible portable music device or a ground breaking telecommunication device .. they saw a domain that had some pain points and some unmet needs.I mean Nokia has been making phones for years, for crying out loud and they launched hundreds of models..

It's not what new you create, it's the how that is the separating line..

Innovation

( Top-down , bottom-up or all around ? )

Innovation : a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental, radical, and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. A distinction is typically made between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully. (source : http://www.wikipedia.org/)
Well, that definition sort of does sum-up what innovation is, however when it comes to practicing or further still - mastering the art of innovation, most organizations hit plateaus much sooner than later.
Now why is that ?
Based on my experiences and consumption of information around / interaction with people around, I have made some observations :

The 3 most crucial components that make any innovation successful are (and I am considering being the first-mover to be an implicit imperative) :

^ radicalness
^ benefit
^ execution

If you are the first mover, you leave a huge gap behind for competition to catch up.
If you are catching up, you better be fast to not only catchup but outdo the leader at break-neck speed.
To outdo means that the benefits your innovation offers, are better than anybody else around.

Self-explicit. Or is it ? If the mantra is so simple, then why are we mostly talking about the same set of companies always ? Why don't we see a dozen new companies across every year that race to the top 20 on this index ?




Source : BusinessWeek


Is it just because these companies have phenomenal leadership at the helm ? Or is it because that these companies nurture a culture of innovation ?

I mean everybody knows that Steve Jobs has an unbelievable and un-quenchable desire to make products that the competition can only just marvel at ! forget outdoing, they can not even ape Apple products properly.
But is it just Jobs alone in Apple that is responsible for innovating ? Is he the one that comes out with ideas ? Or is he simply a terrific leader who inspires innovation !
Take BMW as another example - those guys build tanks that move like the wind ! And they always make it unbelievably better than the last one ! For a company that goes as far back as 1916 - they don't have a Steve Jobs there, or in P&G. And enough has been talked about Google and it's innovation speed.
What these companies have in common is a culture of innovation , better still, they have processes that help nurture/ facilitate this culture.

Operationally what that means is that people are empowered to ideate and implement those ideas and their organizations are willing to take the risk of spending R&D dollars for driving those ideas to success !