I took part in a great conversation about what innovation is yesterday. When you read that sentence you probably think about the idea of a new application for your smart phone or tablet, or a new piece of hardware or a website? That would be the normal answer. The reality is that it had nothing to do with anything "technical" but rather a concept around thinking. A process that we sometimes don't give a lot of thought to.The conversation revolved around the thought of "how". How could we build a place where people are able to think together? Interact in real time and share their "ideas"? A place where people from around the globe can speak with the same voice about the same conversation and not feel as if they are not heard? A environment where thoughts can be built out and materialized into products or services through the collaborative process?
Spending the last three years researching the area of collaborative work environments, I could start to understand the conversation from a different perspective.
That is what innovation is. It is the building of a thought, into a more complex thought with the capability to build more.
The ideas that we discussed were just the beginning. What is also interesting about the innovation process is that it requires ideas, from people that are open to change and growth. I have worked too long with people that see things simplistically from a very singular vantage point.
So think more about ideas and less about process and or products. Build within - then to paper and.... the ideas will become something of complete innovation and not just a product that is just something that has already been done.
-Jeffrey
