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What do innovations achieve?

7 September, 2015 - 12:02

Ultimately, any systems innovator is important in what their innovations achieve for organizations and individuals. Thus, it is appropriate to conclude discussion of “Being a Systems Innovator” with reflections on what ultimately are the fruits of innovation, and what makes being a systems innovator such an important and essential role for the fast-moving world of the 21st century. For a successful systems innovator, keeping a long-term view on the outcomes achieved from any future innovation is vital.

First, innovations marry insights and existing knowledge to produce new knowledge. Without new knowledge, your organization, be it a business or government, might become irrelevant and outdated quickly. By creating new knowledge, innovations are the only sustainable advantage. The present “ways” of systems, with time inevitably become old “ways” and outdated. For our modern age, that some individual or organization will eventually identify an innovative “way” better than the old “ways” is almost certain. Changes happen, and without innovation, organizations might become irrelevant quickly. New knowledge also allows your organization to gain positive benefits from previously unforeseen approaches or opportunities. These new approaches can help your organization grow or profit. Our world’s future is made by innovations and new knowledge gained from these achievements.

Imagine individuals at the dawn of the 1900’s. If you could go back in time and tell them about the modern world, what would be the “new” knowledge you would share with them? What innovations would be the most important to you? Would you discuss modern jets that travel the global daily? Or would you explain how we have sent rockets into outer space and astronauts to the moon? Or would you tell them about the Internet and personal computers? Or would you talk about our use of antibiotics and modern medicines to treat diseases? What other innovations do you think are most noteworthy?

Now think about those individuals in the year 1900. Would they even believe some of the innovations you told them? How would they react if you tried to tell them about the ability to share electronic messages with people around the world in less than a second? How would you even begin to describe the ability to search for information, music, or videos on the Internet – recognizing that they did not even have television yet in the year 1900?

All of these innovations (and many, many more) occurred in less than 100 years, and our world is moving forward ever faster, and with ever more complexity, in our innovations and discoveries. With these innovations comes new knowledge, knowledge we now take for granted in our daily lives. This new knowledge improves our ability to work more productively, live longer and fuller lives, communicate across large distances, and perform tasks in hours that previously took weeks or months to complete.

Innovation also achieves shared knowledge. For innovations to succeed, they often must share (either within your organization or with the world) insights that one or two people previously may have observed or discovered. If you are a systems innovator and you realize a better way for your company to interact with its customers, you will need to share your idea with others to encourage its adoption. Equally, if you discover an improved way for individuals to manage their email messages, you may incorporate this innovation into a software product that you then make available to others (to buy or for free). The knowledge produced by innovators needs to be “shared” for their innovations to be truly realized and recognized.