Marcus Barber thinks that, among the cry for creativity, the value of entrepreneurs and innovation is often lost.
When it comes to improving the world, there are three common
mantras that developed societies chant in unison -
'entrepreneurship', 'creativity' and 'innovation'. Yet depending to
which of these mantras a society assigns higher value, the ways in
which they will approach the ideas of creativity, innovation and
entrepreneurship will differ greatly.
I'd like to propose that too many people see entrepreneurship as
bad, and too many believe that innovation and creativity are one
and the same. These trapped perspectives prevent the full benefit
of innovative and entrepreneurial activity flowing to society. The
key missing ingredient needed to release the full potential is
strategic foresight.
The rainforest is a great metaphor of how modern societies
operate. In the natural world, rainforests arguably represent the
most complete of ecosystems - self-sustaining, self-regulating and
typically resilient to most events. Yet all it takes to change the
ecology of a rainforest is to punch a hole (often violently) in the
canopy to expose the floor below. Sunlight streams in through the
hole in the canopy reaching the seeds that lay dormant in the
build-up of rotting material and, with it, new life emerges. Plant
life springs forth and usually is of a similar species to the one
that made way for it.
But not always. Modern societies are relatively stable and
surprisingly resilient. The system requires an established upper
level canopy to protect the lower level mass from the excessive
dangers of disruption. Like rainforests, societies don't seem to
change too much. Yet when they do ... the seeds of your failures
lie in the forests of your successes.
Societies change when entrepreneurs and innovators 'punch holes'
in the fabric of society. That is their job, their core function
and what they are implicitly good at, giving rise to the dormant
seeds of change that lie waiting for an opportunity to
flourish.
Yet too often we decry entrepreneurship in this society. It is not
a mantra we chant strongly, often due to the way in which
charlatans and poor business people have from time to time been
held up as fine examples of entrepreneurship in mainstream media,
only to be later exposed to the issues of accountability. It is
these few big cases that have given rise to a low or zero
appreciation of the importance and value of entrepreneurs. And
given as how in Australia we have a society that places a higher
value on creativity than we do innovation or entrepreneurship, the
role of entrepreneurs in our society is even more important.
There is also widespread confusion between innovation and
creativity and Australia in particular relies too heavily on the
notion of creativity.
While all innovation is creative, the stark reality is that very
little creativity is innovative. Australian organisations and
governments are paying a harsh penalty for accepting the useful but
lower value gained through a focus on creativity. Creativity
typically is about incremental improvements - improved efficiencies
and levels of effectiveness.
Innovation is about evolution - it is about ideas with the
potential to fundamentally change the way an industry sector
operates and what a product or service does. It is a step well
beyond (merely) creative efforts.
Creative developments shape and influence the general direction
and speed of an existing trend. These are the incremental
improvements of a product or service such as we have seen in
improvements to desktop computers over the years. But true
innovations render existing trends obsolete. Few organisations are
making 3¼ inch floppy disk drives because (although a creative
improvement on previous versions of floppy drives) they were
replaced by the recordable CD-ROM. The recordable CD-ROM jumped the
'innovation chasm' - the gap between creativity and future
development that is built upon and continues to be fed by
innovation. This spelled the end of the floppy drive in much the
same way that USB drives seem to be making CD-ROM and DVD storage
obsolete.
True innovation aims to make existing modes of doing things
obsolete, where as merely creative improvements (though valuable)
typically add to the existing mode of doing things. You can't stop
progress.
The implicit aim of all modern societies is to progress, to
improve the living conditions for its citizenry. To that end then,
modern societies are often also said to be advanced societies -
well-established, with clear governance structures, appropriate
technology and sufficient infrastructure to meet society's needs.
Advanced societies are also more likely to be sustainable societies
because sustainable societies actively seek out ways to evolve the
way they do things.
And this is where the mantras of entrepreneurship, creativity and
innovation have their beginnings, for it is widely held that in
advanced societies (societies with an eye on progress)
entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation are key drivers of
advancement.
Yet the explicit aim of modern society (and most organisations) as
seen in the outcome of the way the system operates, has very little
to do with advancement. The irony is that, while there is vast talk
about advancement through improved efficiencies and effectiveness,
the very structures organisations use to achieve those goals often
prevent them from making the improvements they say they
desire.
In reality, most societies and organisations operate using a
system fixated with achieving a single aim - maintaining the status
quo. Maintaining the status quo is about clinging to our past
successes, yet we do so knowing that the seeds of our very
destruction lie waiting for an opportunity to emerge. We wrap
ourselves in the comforts of our past successes. Which is why
entrepreneurship and innovation are so critical. Organisations that
fixate on maintaining the status quo eventually die or are bypassed
by more agile and alert competitors able and willing to adapt to
changing needs and circumstances.
Although a correlation between entrepreneurship and innovation
exists, they typically act in different ways. Entrepreneurship
provides energy and momentum needed to overcome the system
blockages and in-built inertia, whereas innovation provides a
fulcrum for change and direction setting.
Societies need more entrepreneurs. We need to encourage the
entrepreneurial drive that seeks to overcome system blockages and
inertia and to develop the skills that overcome the barriers and
established rules that maintain the status quo - those rules and
processes that increase the risk of societal decay. Societies also
need more innovators - those people with the skills through which
the 'rules of the game' (status quo processes) can be fundamentally
changed forever by generating 'chasm leaping' products and
services.
But note that entrepreneurship is only partially linked to
innovation.
Successful entrepreneurship may or may not require innovation
skills. Taking advantage of marketplace opportunities may require
creative efforts that target efficiency and effectiveness - the
realm of being better than the competition and, therein, more
likely to be successful over time.
Innovation, on the other hand, may or may not require an
entrepreneurial spirit. Many a good idea has made it into the
marketplace without the entrepreneurial drive, but by and large
there are more good ideas with innovative potential gone to waste
because the innovator lacked the know-how to bring the idea to
fruition.
Mistakes that innovators make that entrepreneurs do not
include:
• Failing to understand and access the range of
required expertise needed to succeed
• Believing that a 'good idea' will be
sufficient to be successful
• Holding onto control beyond a feasible and
realistic level
Mistakes that entrepreneurs make that innovators do not
include:
• Failing to ignore the 'box' (the limitation of
the system)
• Settling for playing better in the existing
sandpit (incremental improvement is enough)
• Thinking that creativity and innovation are
one and the same.
Moving beyond the status quo requires the important third
ingredient - an enhanced awareness of potential futures.
Entrepreneurs often see opportunities for an improved future;
innovators often see opportunities for a different future;
futurists often aim to see a range of potential futures.
Futurists use a variety of tools like environmental scanning,
scenarios and backcasting, among others, to enhance their capacity
for foresight. Strategic foresight is the ability to conceive of
potential differences in future outcomes of any matter under
consideration, and an ability to also prepare for those potential
outcomes. Foresight can be improved through a number of ways that
may or may not require a futurist's tool kit.
When you combine entrepreneurship, with an innovative idea and
well-considered insights into the future, you get game-changing
results. Put more simply, when you put entrepreneurship, innovation
and foresight into the same room, 'magic' happens.
Organisations deliberately or otherwise-fixated on maintaining the
status quo are attracted to 'activity'. This is the realm of the
incremental improvements and although of benefit, fails to fully
leverage the drive and passion of the entrepreneurial and
innovative skill sets.
But real innovation is a brutal end to habits of behaviour.
Let's move away from accepting creativity as good enough.
Incremental improvements are valuable but will not handle the
impacts of innovative changes forced upon us. Real innovation is
bloody and brutal, leading to crises of confidence in established
industries. Innovation overcomes the stultifying grip of the status
quo. Real innovation often requires entrepreneurial thinking. It
always requires strategic foresight.
Governments, societies and organisations that lack the capability
to develop and support an innovative and entrepreneurial drive are
destined to become third and fourth-rate players. True innovation
will bypass blockages, undermining the habits upon which we base
our day-to-day activities. Quite simply, our habits of thinking
will be seen for what they are - a debilitating addiction to
mediocrity, as the entrepreneur and innovator link their passion to
a clearer understanding of a better future, tapping into expertise
when and where it can be found.
Organisations with a highly tuned level of strategic foresight
will be well placed to spot emerging opportunities and threats in
advance of their competition. Being able to tap into the innovative
idea and entrepreneurial drive keeps them well ahead of the status
quo. It is a key step towards a focus on productivity - the
outcomes of our efforts, rather than activity - the actions that
merely make us busy.
Entrepreneurs can improve their impact by seeking truly innovative
ideas to add to their mix. In doing so they will move beyond
incremental efficiency and effectiveness approaches. Innovators can
gain much by tapping into the entrepreneurial ability to 'get to
market' as well as accessing the right expertise at the right time.
Both would gain significantly by taking a deliberate approach to
seeking insights from the future by questioning their assumptions
and expectations using the broad array of methods employed by
strategic futurists.
Organisations should consider developing 'Futures Departments'
that report directly to the board on specific actions the
organisation is taking to ensure that it doesn't fall victim to a
fixation on status quo and the all-too-ready acceptance of
mediocrity as being sufficient approaches to societal improvements.
This would also ensure an ongoing strategic seeking out of signals
of emerging risk and opportunity. Governments at all levels should
consider developing the ministerial portfolio of 'Innovation and
Future' that aims to foster and bring together the foresight,
entrepreneurial and innovator skill sets, moving us beyond an
acceptance of and reliance on creativity as being sufficient.
And societies ought to celebrate those individuals and companies
whose drive and passion improves the very existence of our lives,
whether or not we are fully aware of how the impact eventuated
because entrepreneurship and innovation are the antidotes to social
decline and the launch pads of advancing our society. We should
celebrate the successes and embrace the failures for they represent
attempts to open our eyes to the light of change, to give rise to
the new, the bold and the better.
The very best innovations require future insights because when
you add into the mix a strong capacity for foresight you enable
leap-frogging improvements across industry sectors and across
society.
Marcus Barber, strategic futurist, is director of Looking Up
Feeling Good (www.lufg.com.au). This piece is based on one
originally used as a session primer for the Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year awards.