the
innovative LEDGER
An e-Newsletter from The Innovative Edge™ Inc.
Vol.
10, No. 4 - April 2010
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Gold Medal Innovation
By Jeff Govendo
At
a networking breakfast I attended around the time the Winter Olympics
were finishing up in Vancouver, my table's icebreaker was, "What
was your favorite event at the Games, and why?"
Although
I often do icebreakers at meetings I'm conducting, I have to admit
I don't always have a quick response to questions I'm asked as a participant.
This time, however, I didn't have a moment's hesitation: my favorite
event was the men's halfpipe.
A
curious choice. Understand, I've never been on a snowboard in my life;
wouldn't even know how to strap my feet onto one (as proven, no doubt,
by the phrase "strap my feet onto one"). In fact, when I
was young enough to have taken up snowboarding, there was no such
thing as snowboarding.
So
why this? Because of all the events I viewed over those two weeks,
no athlete so completely separated himself from the rest of the
field like gold medalist Shaun White.
Now
don't get me wrong, I recognize the amazing skill and dedication it
takes to win any kind of medal in the Olympics, or even just to get
into the Olympics. And at that level of skill, anyone who wins a competition
by a couple of milliseconds, a tenth of a point or a fraction of an
inch has more than earned my admiration.
Shaun
White, however, wins by feet -- vertical feet -- over his closest
competitors. It's as if he persuades gravity to take a vacation
every time he makes a run. And while doing it, he takes on the added
risk of trying bold new moves nobody has seen before. He practically
re-invents the sport every time he competes.
I
was anticipating that most of my tablemates would respond with the
more popular downhill skiing or figure skating as their favorites.
But guess what? At least half of us picked the halfpipe, a
relatively new and therefore less well-known event at the Olympics.
And we all cited similar reasons.
When
a competitor so differentiates himself in a field of endeavor as Shaun
White has, people just have to notice.
And
so it is in business. (Why else would I be writing this?) Companies
that do something notably better or substantially different than their
competitors get noticed too. Naturally this assumes that what
they do ultimately satisfies a customer need (without which, it doesn't
much matter what they do). Companies that are clearly best in class
seem to have this in common: they do at least one thing with which
they are unmistakably identified, and which adds value to the customer
experience.
Some
current examples... Apple computers are no more powerful than
others on the market, just more ergonomically and elegantly designed.
You can always spot a Mac (and not just by its bitten-apple logo which
is so prominently product-placed in movies and TV shows). USAA offers
pretty much the same financial products as their competitors, but
with a level and quality of service that proclaims, "Thanks!
You deserve it!" to their military family clientele. Tata Motors
of India doesn't make the only tiny car in the world suited to congested
cities (the Nano), but they did figure out how to make the only $2500
car that actually runs well.
The
companies we admire the most offer products and services that are
not simply incremental improvements over the competition. Instead,
they are innovative to the point of being "re-imagined."
Not just for the sake of being different, but rather to delight their
customers far beyond expectations.
What
about your company? Do its leaders encourage and engage employees
to use their expertise and creativity to "think different"
(Apple's motto) about your products and services? Is there a sense
of open-mindedness about new ideas people may have? Is there a process
in place for systematically developing those ideas into potential
new business concepts, along with plans for execution?
These
questions, in sum, ask whether or not a culture of innovation exists.
If you answered yes to each of them, congratulations! Your business
is in Shaun White halfpipe territory.
If
not, you may want to identify who in the organization is holding you
back from achieving the dazzling, innovative results you're capable
of.
Perhaps
they can be persuaded to take a little vacation.
