Innovation without delusions
peterstrempel.com
peterstrempel.com
That said, a statement in Peter's summary resonated deeply when he noted:
"We should think about all the variables an outsider might bring to our attention, and then about how to embed that outsider perspective as an integral part of our organizational culture."
How many times has this question been asked, with the common answer of "We do, and then ignore or dismiss 'the outsider'"??? Far more than most care to admit I suspect.
Yet it is this very statement that has led me personally down the "platform/software/technology agnostic" road. Repeatedly.
>How many times has this question been asked, with the common answer of "We do, and then ignore or dismiss 'the outsider'"??? Far more than most care to admit I suspect.
What makes this so interesting to me is that this seems to a property of social systems in general (individuals included). There is a constant push/pull of "maintenance of identity" and "importing novel information from the environment." Take "human conversation" or "argument" as an analogue of this situation and you come to the same conclusion: people prefer to maintain their identities/boundaries/opinions/perspectives/etc.
And you're right, the answer to that question is overwhelmingly negative in reality: that seems like the point that the author is making. Something about how "innovation" involves the way that organizations and outsiders generate interdependencies/come into conversation.
Very interesting article (I need to read this a couple more times).
"If I told you that contemporary ideas about innovation and disruption were driven mostly by ideology, ignorance, and marketing hype, would that seem controversial or extreme?
"If my proposition were true, though, would it change the way you think about innovation?
"It changed for me. I came to my conclusions over the Christmas-New year break, when my reading list contained an unusually dense stack of essays and articles about innovation. The common features were about undefined buzzwords, and formulaic models that avoided coming to grips with innovation, often missing even of a workable definition.
"So let’s start there...."