MIAMI – It may be stating the obvious, but just about every company wants to be innovative. Innovation is what sets you apart from your peers and what will ultimately help you carve out a successful place in a given market. But actually being innovative is easier said than done. Innovation means change and often requires the disruption of traditional ways of doing business. For many companies, this change is scary. “What if we fail?” “What if we lose the customers we already have?” “What if the chances we take don’t pan out they way we hoped?” The fear of failure stifles the creative impulse to innovate and breeds complacency. Often, it’s only a matter of time before the company joins the likes of Circuit City, Blockbuster, Kodak and the rest on the ignominious list of brands that disappeared due to their unwillingness or inability to innovate and change with the times.
Speaking to attendees at the 2014 RIMS ERM Conference in Miami, author and CEO of Detroit Venture Partners Josh Linkner (above) summed up the problem. “We overestimate the risk of making a change, but underestimate the risk of standing still,” he said. According to Linkner, we need to tap into our latent ability to be creative and innovative in order to work past this mindset.
The key is to understand what makes an innovator who they are and how we can apply those qualities to our own lives. To this end, Linkner outlined the five “obsessions” common to all innovators:
1. Innovators encourage courage. Don’t be afraid to fail. James Dyson created more than 5,000 failed protoypes before successfully developing the vacuum motor than made him a billionaire.
2. Innovators shed the past. Protecting past successes often comes at the expense of future growth.
3. Innovators defy tradition. Just because it’s always been done one way doesn’t mean that better ideas don’t exist.
4. Innovators get scrappy. Think small. Innovators are often the ones who are willing to move quickly and be nimble. They take chances and embrace risk to gain the extra advantage over slow-moving competitors.
5. Innovators push the boundaries. Reinvent the wheel. Literally. You never know what might happen.
We all have the capacity to be creative, said Linkner. We just need to embrace risk and welcome creativity. For risk managers looking to implement innovative solutions like ERM, it is a way of thinking that could lead to real success.
