How to Be More Innovative
How to Be More InnovativeShare this Image On Your Site
Innovation isn’t rarefied anymore; it can’t be. In today’s mountainous marketplace, you have to innovate – and consistently – to survive. Something that floated in the atmosphere like helium in the last generation is as necessary as oxygen in this one. If you don’t know how to live and breathe innovation, the air’s going to get thin pretty fast.
History of Innovators
Leonardo Da Vinci
A Renaissance Man if there ever was one, Da Vinci made relentless contributions to the arts and sciences, from painting some of the world’s most famous pictures to designing a helicopter more than four hundred years before the first one was built.
Johannes Gutenberg
His printing press would inaugurate a new era in human affairs, democratizing education and bringing about an unprecedented exchange of ideas.
Thomas Edison
America’s favorite inventor was as crafty as he was savvy, parlaying his inventions into massive public works projects – including the country’s first electrical grid.
Nikola Tesla
The genius’s genius, Tesla was responsible for some of the most important innovations in the American electrical era, including the alternating current (AC) system.
Henry Ford
The businessman who shaped modern manufacturing more than any other, Ford was responsible for the assembly line method that would become the standard in industrial design.
Steve Jobs
After his death, a famous magazine profile celebrated Steve Jobs as ‘The Tweaker’: here was an inventor who understood that perfecting something can be even more important than coming up with it.
How to Be More Innovative as a Person
Listen
You’d be surprised what you hear— even from yourself, but only when you just stop and listen.
Stay organized
Order can go a long way towards improving your mindset. Stay sharp by managing your resources effectively— especially your time.
Strike while the iron’s hot
Be ready to act when the opportunity arises. Too much forethought can take the edge off your ability to innovate.
Try something new
Even if it’s not directly related to the problem you’re trying to solve, a novel experience always helps you view things from a fresh perspective.
Collaborate
Two heads are better than one, and three are better than two. Make the power of teams work for you.
How to Innovate Your Company
Never stop improving
It’s time to get comfortable with constant change. Things can always get better, and you have to leave room for that.
Use perfect as a verb
Styluses never caught on; iPhones did. The key insight: a new idea is something to be improved upon.
Focus on the details
Remember: the ‘wow’ factor doesn’t come from any one dazzling thing; it comes from minute attention to every aspect of the product.
Think about the big picture
The moment you lose sight of the next big thing, you’ll find yourself stagnating. The only way to reach another peak is to keep climbing.
Give your culture a boost
Get to know the people you’re working with, and encourage everyone to interact with each other on any pretext. The more you hit the rocks together, the more sparks there are going to be.
