The Cult of Innovation

I am as pleased as Punch to announce that I am in the March 5, 2007 print edition of BusinessWeek (the one with "Customer Service Champs" on the cover) with an editorial called The Cult of Innovation. An excerpt:

Innovation is traditionally understood as a combination of insight and invention, with insight being the "Aha!" moment and invention being the company's muscle to make it happen. This is all well and good, but one crucial aspect of the definition is missing: the ability to judge the inspiration and determine whether it is worthwhile to spend the company's resources on the invention. Without this judgment, innovation is just The New, and new isn't always better. It's a louder sizzle, not a juicier steak. For innovation to be truly important, it needs to resonate with consumers. Insights need to be derived from the unmet needs and desires of people, not simply the company's feeling that it needs to innovate.

Update: This is no longer premium content, so the link now points to the free version!

Originally posted at Thursday, February 22, 2007 | Comments (2) | Trackback (0)