Advancing Innovation

CHAPTER 2Determining Important Innovation

Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.

—Bill Gates

Most generations look at themselves in their current point in time and think, man, this is just a crazy time! We are in the midst of so much change and advancement, will it ever slow down? I do believe Bill Gates is correct, though. We are at a point in time where the world has become a very small place, a global market in which we can function quite easily, if we choose to. We have a tremendous amount of technology and information at our fingertips, with seemingly more and more coming out daily. So in this promising time, and given the importance of driving innovation in our companies, where do we start?

We shouldn’t innovate for innovation’s sake. What good does it do to create new products, develop new technology, file patents, and so on if you ultimately don’t derive value for your customers and stakeholders? I’m not saying that every innovation project or effort has to have a 100% internal rate of return (IRR), hugely positive Net Present Value (NPV), and less than one-year payback before you do it—absolutely not! Companies need to take risks, and they need to be willing to fail when they innovate. So then how do you decide WHERE to take those risks and WHERE you should be willing to fail in order to drive value?

Before you make any decision about any innovation, you should first consider how that innovation impacts your ...