Sir Ken Robinson recently presented a video talk and Q&A at MarketingProfs on the nature of innovation at our own organizations.
Why is innovation critical to all companies? And are we all capable of the creativity and imagination required to fuel real innovation? (Spoiler alert on that last one: YES.)
I’m one of those people who gets antsy at webinars. But last week I was zero percent tempted during Sir Ken’s video talk to start scrolling through my email or to check Instagram.
Part of that was Sir Ken’s delivery – he’s hilarious and articulate. Which makes the big concepts he talks about feel accessible and real and suddenly relevant to all of our lives.
I came away from Sir Ken’s talk feeling inspired to do things differently within my own organization as well as in the world itself. And when’s the last time that you had that reaction to a marketing webinar?
Here are 7 must-read highlights.
If you’re wanting more, you can watch the whole seminar here at MarketingProfs.
“Innovation has to become a habit…. Innovation needs to be systematic, deliberate; it is what defines you as an organization."
Innovation is simply a habit that should be nurtured, not an art or a gift. In that way, it reminds me of my philosophy toward writing as a habit, not an art.
“Make innovation part of the daily conversation,” Sir Ken said.
"Innovation feeds on itself."
When the iPhone came out, in 2007, there were a few hundred apps for it. Now, there are a ka-frickin-zillion. (That’s not Sir Ken’s word, it’s mine.)
“You can now download an app that turns your iPhone into a blues harmonica,” Ken said. “Why? I have a blues harmonica that’s smaller than the iPhone…”
The bigger point is that tools and technologies allow us to channel creativity and innovation in new, unexpected ways. “Tools stretch our minds in new directions. They allow us to do things, but also tools extend our minds.”
“Innovation feeds on itself. It becomes pat of a multiplier effect” in which things are launched that were unanticipated by the original design or intent, Sir Ken said.
"Organizations are mortal."
Organizations are mortal – most last only 30 to 40 years. And they don’t survive if they don’t evolve.
“Companies are living organisms; if they don’t evolve, they simply don’t make it. Innovation isn’t an option,” Sir Ken said.
One good example is Kodak. They invented the brownie camera, which Sir Ken called “the iPad of its day.” The Brownie camera made photography accessible to everyone, and as a result Kodak went on to be the dominant force in photography.
Now the company is in receivership. Kodak didn’t fail because people stopped taking photographs – we take more photos, not less (“an irritating number,” said Sir Ken in a mock grouse).
Rather, Kodak failed because it didn’t adapt to a digital culture and instead bet its future on film – “when things really went quite differently, of course,” he said.
Kodak was created by chemists and run by chemists, and Sir Ken speculated that that might’ve contributed to a kind of innovation blind spot.
“Kodak created a habit of mind, a culture that stopped them from innovating,” Sir Ken said.
"The second driver of innovation is the sheer number of people on the planet."
"There are currently 7 ½ billion people in the world – more than any other time in our history. By the middle of the century, there will be an estimated 9 billion. Much of the population growth is expected to come from emerging or developing economies.
That may affect the future of your own organization. But more broadly, it’s also likely to affect our collective futures.
More people means more need for food, fuel and water. Beyond the question of whether our planet can handle the growth is the question, “In what fashion?” Sir Ken said. If we all consumed resources as most people do in India, the earth could sustain 15 billion people, he said. But if we all consume fuel, food and water as we do in North America, the earth could sustain a mere 1.5 billion.
“Which means that by the end of the century, we’re going to need another 4 or 5 planets to accommodate us all,” Sir Ken said.
"Creativity is the applied wing of imagination."
Innovation is the drive to find new ideas and new ways of doing things, to launch both new products and better processes. “But you can’t go straight to it,” he said, because the foundation for innovation are two things: Imagination and creativity.
Imagination gives you the freedom to consider alternative views. Creativity is about applying imagination to existing systems – to challenge what we take for granted. It’s the process of figuring out if your imagined, original ideas have value.
“Creativity is the applied wing of imagination,” Sir Ken said. And innovation comes from the application of that creativity in context in an organizational context.
"Creative does not equal artistic."
“A myth is that you’re either creative or you’re not,” Sir Ken said.
“Creative” does not equal “artistic.” You can be a creative team leader or a creative scientist or a creative marketer – which means only that you look for new ways of doing things.
We all have creative capacity. But most organizations don’t give people permission to be creative.
In an organization, he added, “Culture is about where you lay the lines of permission.”
I wrote a full post on this one alone here.
"Great ideas aren't accidental."
“Creativity is a process, not an event,” Sir Ken said
Pixar bans no or but during company meetings. Great ideas aren’t accidental – rather, they come from a practiced point of view which encourages new ideas and innovation.
Support a “yes and…” brand of improvisation at your own organization, Sir Ken said. In comic improv, the actors accept what those around them suggest and work with it – you accept what you’ve been given and build on it, saying yes and instead of no orbut.
Banning no and but might “sound trivial,” Sir Ken said. “It’s really not.”
If you’re a creative leader, he added, it’s not your job to have all the great ideas. Instead, it’s your job to allow those you lead to contribute as well.
“Take that weight off yourself,” he said.
