Daring to be Innovative
Ideas that turn the
conversation on its head producing an altered perception are clearly among
the most interesting. Nobel Prize winning playwright George Bernard Shaw
perhaps related this concept best when he said, "The reasonable man
adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the
unreasonable man." Of course, being unreasonable here is equated with
being unbound by convention rather than being not guided by good sense.
Being unbound by convention is the first prerequisite for innovation, and
turning arguments on their heads is one of the next important steps in the
process.
In Steve McQueen's racing-themed movie "Le Mans," he answers a
serious question concerning what is so important about driving faster than
anyone else. His answer turns the question on its head. He says, "A
lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing is important to
men who do it well. Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after
…is just waiting."
Author of many books as well as the best selling business video in history,
Joel Arthur Barker put it slightly differently. He said, "Vision
without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the
time. Vision with action can change the world!" Innovation is what
drives the most dramatic change.
To most, innovation comes with some degree of difficulty since we are
typically forced to abandon alternatives with which we have become quite
familiar. After all, we have learned that not all change is good. This is
why you have to be somewhat daring to be truly innovative. Daring to be
innovative does involve some risk, but hesitancy in following a dream gets
you no closer to that dream. Progress in business depends upon the
"unreasonable" entrepreneur.
ZipDial and Xiaomi are two fine examples of truly innovative companies led
by some truly "unreasonable" entrepreneurs.
ZipDial
Have you ever used the old trick of phoning someone and allowing it to ring
for only a moment before hanging up to signal your presence or arrival
somewhere? This bypasses telephone company fees since there was no
connection established. Valery Wagoner created ZipDial, a "missed
call" marketing platform, to exploit that concept further.
Companies promote a ZipDial number in their advertising. Customers then
call and hang up, only to be contacted by the company to complete their
transactions, enter contests, obtain coupons, or take advantage of other
promotions. The innovation was using an existing idea to generate new
business. In January, 2015, Wagoner turned her innovative idea into a deal
with Twitter, which acquired ZipDial for an estimated $30 million.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi is a recent entry into the burgeoning smartphone market. The
innovative part of their marketing model is a reliance on peripherals and
software applications to build profitability. The smartphone, itself, has a
paper-thin profit margin, but the apps sold to go with it are the source of
much of the company's substantial revenue. That is one aspect, but the
other is sheer volume. Because of their low price (and the speed of
"flash sales" in an internet-driven economy), one of the phone
models sold out in a matter of two minutes. One hundred thousand phones in
two minutes, and each of them requires software.
These two companies approached their problems with imagination and the
willingness to innovate. "Unreasonable" entrepreneurs followed
the advice of business commentator David O. Adeife, who said, "Never
innovate to compete; innovate to change the rules of the game."
Innovation does not necessarily involve reinventing the wheel. Successfully
applying proven models in new contexts is every bit as innovative as coming
up with the better mousetrap.
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