Recent history has been witness to a landslide of innovation in the technology, communications, health and sciences industries which has significantly changed the way in which the world operates. Every innovators hopes that they have the next successful, life-altering project, but for every success there are many failures. The natural question then is, what makes a successful innovator?
While there’s no specific formula, research has shown that the world’s most successful innovators tend to have a few traits in common with one another, regardless of industry, organization size or experience level.
Throughout the innovation process, it is easy to lose sight of the main goal. However, it is crucial that successful innovators keep a customer-oriented focus. After all, it is the customer who will face the decision of which product to buy or what service to use. View products and services through the eyes of consumers and avoid focusing too much on the bottom line. Prioritizing product features and tweaks from a consumer perspective also aids in making better informed investment decisions when it comes to both product development and marketing.
Always considered a crucial skill in the business world, networking has a place in innovation as well. In this case, the wider and more diverse the network, the better. Successful innovators tend to have far-reaching networks which are broad and include a wide range of individuals from outside the innovator’s main industry. The idea behind having such a varied network is that it exposes a person to different ways of thinking, problem-solving and idea generation. Contact from other industries can also help spark new ideas all together, provided you are observant and open-minded. Expanding your network can be accomplished by attending trade and industry conventions tangentially related to your business, or simply utilizing your pre-existing social network through friends and acquaintances.
The work of an innovator does not stop at the office. Staying observant inside and outside the work environment has many advantages. Outside of the office, successful innovators are able to observe consumer behavior, shifts in trends and the effectiveness of advertising in a real-world setting. The information picked up from simple, yet diligent observations can prove to be invaluable to the innovation process.
Back at the office, observation is still a valued trait in addition to keeping an open mind. Do not confine yourself to the ideas and thoughts generated from R&D or marketing. Stay open-minded and reach out to others in the organization for their opinions on projects, products and features. Don’t judge ideas quickly or harshly either and take the time to find a way to extract the value out of feedback – good and bad.
Keeping an entrepreneurial, even at a well-established organization, is one of the most common traits of a successful innovator. Complacency has no place in an innovative environment and often inhibits the process. Stay fresh by maintaining the perspective of an entrepreneur and think beyond established industry standards. Attend showcases and conventions to keep up to date with trends and work on creating an environment that is well-balanced and diverse. Stay exciting about developing new products by creating a sense of urgency and looking everywhere for ways to improve not just the product, but the process of product development as well.
In the business of innovation, it is inevitable that some projects will fail. Learning to accept risk and failure are two key traits found in successful innovators. Showing a reluctance to take risk can result in several negative side effects including stifling the innovative process, and showing a lack of faith for your organization. Utilizing measuring and assessment tactics which monitor investment and feasibility of a project against predicted returns throughout the innovation process can help limit overall risk and provide clues as to when or if to end a project prematurely.
Within innovation, even failure has value. The toleration of failure opens innovators up to the possibility of further learning. Just because a project is cancelled does not mean it should be ignored or tossed aside. Taking the time to understand why the project failed may help prevent future proposals from being cancelled for the same reasons.