How many of us have come to believe that innovation, that really cool innovation that is the Holy Grail we all seek, has to be BIG? As in revolutionary, Whoda-thunk-it spectacular.
Guess what folks? Thats Gravity thinking. The best innovation is often subtle and highly-focused.
The lessons many of us have learned – that we have to be first to be a market leader, that innovation means the Big Boom – those lessons are yesterday’s news.
Look at Apple and the iPhone. The big innovation was in the Palm Treo and the BlackBerry – the first smart phones. Apple’s innovation was to make those smart phones much better.
Look at Facebook. They were a follower in the social media space – behind MySpace and others. Their innovation was to take social media to the next level by making it work for a broader audience.
Look at Google Maps. MapQuest and Yahoo maps were already in the market. Yet Google maps cleaned their clocks – making them look so Out-of-date – all because Google improved on a concept.
Look at a little company called Kayak. Kayak is a search engine. Say what? Just what the world needs, right? Another search engine. Yet Kayak is prepping for an IPO. You heard me right – just another search engine is going public. How? Kayak didn’t try to be a better search engine for the world. They delivered a better search engine for the travel industry. Their innovation wasn’t a whole new whizbang whatchamafloppy. Their innovation was to make a search capability that was user-friendly, productive and higher value for the travel business.
Big is not necessarily better.
Many of my clients have powerful value and innovation right now. Yet these clients are often searching for the Big Bang of innovation. They’re convinced they need some disruptive, flashy new whizbang thing to make them a success.
Their best opportunity is often less about revolution and more about evolution. Their customers don’t want new and whizbang, they want less disruption and just plain better. Simple improvements in the way they do things today can provide even more value tomorrow. Doing tings differently, fixing kittle glitches, makeing everything easier for our customers – that’s value and it’s also innovation – when we think differently.
As you plan for 2011, ditch the Big Bang. It’s not the size f the innovation that counts – it’s the benefit you deliver to your market.
Little things matter – big time.
