The Passion of an Innovator!

Are you an Innovator, just hovering inside a niche waiting to move into the mainstream by making a sizeable impact? Do stylistic explorations of “newness – being different from” define your idea or thought, (your personal creativity) going forward?

Understanding why this happens is not easy. Do you need to be “special?” A “genius?” No I think not! Do you need to be a superior marketer of your work? I don’t believe so, many artisans (of all shapes and sizes, crafters and creators) shy away from promotion even while being aware of its need.

What makes one brilliant “idea or creation” wildly successful, and another ignored? Look beyond the individual, however gifted, and beyond even the idea itself. Just as a painting is encompassed within its frame, innovators always operate in a market of some kind, and the success or failure of their idea is invariably contingent on its individual peculiarities.

First, the nature of the consumer is constantly evolving: Young, elderly, middle class, wealthy or not, local, national or global in its focus.

Second, new channels of distribution keep expanding and for each – a new breed of marketers emerges as well. These young, hungry and ambitious marketers are competing to find the next new thing first and sell it at the most compelling price possible.

In short, although I’m sure you’ve noticed, the Internet is a breeding ground for and very receptive to the commercial possibilities of risk-taking. Innovation appears to be extremely economically viable. Breaking with the past seems now demanded. This is the environment where an innovator will make his or her leap into the unknown.

Having an exceptional idea isn’t enough: if it is to catch fire, the market conditions have to be right – a question of luck and timing! The closest analogy is Silicon Valley in the early days of the dotcom boom, when venture capitalists and entrepreneurs were “out there” in the cutting edge of tomorrow.

Jeff Bezos success of Amazon was the product of a unique set of converging economic, technological and cultural circumstances, although with his passion for success he would have made it in any era. Steve Jobs, another who was passionate with his ideas, was “sure” of his innovative design at a time when everyday design was already becoming more important to consumers.

With the innovator, their talents have to be perfectly suited to the movement of the market. In a world that increasingly rewards experimentation – at a time when it’s cool to bend the rules of artistic endeavor – the level of the passion of the innovator seems to be the one key ingredient in all of them.

Stating this in another way; for your innovation to succeed YOU must still reach out and seize the moment.

Are you an innovator?

~ Penny L Howe