When most people describe innovation in their work or share their vision of the “art of the possible,” what they are really describing is iteration. Let me explain…
Every company faces two opportunities. The balance between the two requires investment and care in order to grow and prosper in an evolving future.
1) Iteration: Embrace new things to improve, enhance, enhance, optimize and expand what we are truly good at. Note: Not everything you do today will stay with you into the future. Something is outdated or obsolete. They need to reimagine a world that is constantly changing, where tastes, trends, times, behaviors, expectations, standards are all changing.
2) Innovation: Embrace the new, explore opportunities to create new value, test and learn, and develop ideas for business/market impact.
I want to share with you a 17 second clip starring legendary producer Rick Rubin. It’s a mind-changing perspective and a “think differently(Hat tip to Apple, suggested adding “ly”).
In this 60 Minutes interview, Rubin shares his approach to music-making, which at first sounds counterintuitive, almost absurd, because it goes against everything we think we know, especially about our work view.
“The audience is last,” Rubin shared with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes.
Cooper’s reaction mirrored what most people were thinking at the time, “What!? How is that possible!?”
“The audience doesn’t know what they want,” he explains.
That’s what makes it different.
“The audience only knows what happened before,” he points out.
This is a powerful, philosophical example of how to think differently.
It starts with reflecting on our next steps. Are we venturing into familiar territory or exploring unknown territory. One is the theory of evolution. The other is revolution.
The audience only knows what happened before.
Who is our audience? Who are our inspirations? How can we best serve them? Where else can we take them?
While nothing in life is certain, there is a sense of certainty or security in working towards something familiar, building on it, enhancing and optimizing it, improving it. But that’s iteration. And the value cycle of iterations is limited. That means it’s only a matter of time before profits shrink, growth stalls and disruption occurs.
Groundbreaking business coach, and my colleague 100 coachesMarshall Goldsmith wisely observed in his best seller“What got you here, won’t get you there.”
This is a powerful and humbling reminder that we need to 1) do things differently and 2) do different things to unlock the next phase of growth. This is innovation. It helps you enter a new value cycle.
There is a benign relationship between iteration and innovation.It accepts the reality that what got us here will not keep us here and embraces ongoing reinvention and value creation with a vision Knowing what gets us there doesn’t keep us there either.
In your work, look for opportunities to make your audience more aware of things they already know. But remember, this is iteration and its value is limited.
Also, look for opportunities to offer your audience content they haven’t heard before. This is innovation. It’s elusive, but its reward is relevance and meaning.
Like yin and yang, iteration and innovation must coexist harmoniously and eternally.
Ask yourself, before every decision, before every strategy and plan, before every move, is this iteration or innovation? If there is only one, then it must be balanced by the other as part of the process. You, your organization, and your culture must be interested in both.
as steve jobs disclose Regarding Apple’s innovation strategy, “Some people say give customers what they want, but that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they want before they do that.”
Allow yourself to be curious, to imagine, to wonder out loud. That’s how you differentiate, grow and thrive, especially in a time of uncertainty.
