The same colleague, (she's smart! Find her on Twitter as @lauraN546), pointed out that it seems innovation is at risk of becoming “just another buzzword with subjective meaning.”
That statement rang very true to me – but also very disappointing. Does the word “innovation” risk losing credibility due to its overuse?
Merck had a reputation for being risk averse – so is this new focus on innovation just a public relations message, or a real cultural shift for the company? Time will tell. But there is a widespread, much-discussed focus on innovation in the industry right now – or at least on innovation being inserted into corporate messaging.
Pipelines have dried, industry reputation is in the dirt, and customers are harder than ever to reach. Pharma product development, distribution, marketing, and sales all require an overhaul. And that requires innovation.
But what does innovation require? In my opinion and from observation, innovation does not (necessarily) involve technology. Innovation requires:
- A cognitive, stated choice to do things differently and a readiness for change
- A different way of looking at things – be it technology, products, approaches, services, or processes
- The ability to challenge the status quo
- Motivated, visionary leadership
- A broad and deep understanding of the issue you're attempting to resolve
- A risk-taking mentality, a high tolerance for experimentation, and acceptance of failure
- Energy and drive – at the organizational as well as personal levels
- Strong communication and change management skills
- Flexibility and nimbleness
- Passion, inspiration, imagination
(By the way, Stefan Lindegaard (@lindegaard) maintains an excellent blog on innovation, 15inno)
As you’ve probably realized by now, most people wouldn’t put the bulleted list above and the words “pharma industry” in the same bucket.
By its very nature, innovation risks the creation of cultural cognitive dissonance. In fact, to be considered innovative, I’d say some level of cognitive dissonance is downright required.
Are you, your team, or your company innovative? Or are you just using it as a messaging buzzword?
3 comments:
In followup to this, I ran across this interesting post today that adds "there are many virtues of ignorance and naivete in the innovation process" and "sometimes it takes someone who's childlike or just plain dumb to see the answer to a complex problem."
I can certainly see how that's possible. When solving a particular problem, the more perspectives that are brought to the table, the better.
What do you think?
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/12/harnessing-ignorance-to-spark-creativity.html
Great post Wendy! Agree 100% - Especially about innovation becoming just a buzzword. Perhaps we need to redefine Innovation to mean - A non-destructive, non-threatening improvement that will yield modest gains in efficiency.
True innovation, after all, is a risky thing. When CEO's of well-established companies talk about innovation, I really think they have to be talking about the softer version. For example, the CEO of Western Union (the first telecom monopoly) back in the day was very motived to find innovative ways to send telegraphs. As it turned out, he was not very excited to hear about the telephone and declared it as folly. In Turn that Telephone company would go on to invent, and then sit the answering machine and magnetic recording tape for years fearing it too risky to their existing business.
Bottom line, the more innovative the innovation, the more disruptive that innovation will be. And as the amount of disruption or anticipated disruption increases, the more the disrupted or would-be disrupted will find ways to impede the progress. So, the better the idea, the stronger the fight will have to be to keep it alive. Perhaps this is why through-out history we see the largest amount of true innovation coming from people outside of the industry.
Regardless, true innovation is good. Change is good. As Thomas Jefferson said, "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing."
Here's to true Innovation.
Thanks for your comment Steve! I can tell you must be passionate about innovation as well!
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