The subject of INNOVATION enthuses me. I am very passionate about innovation.
Many times I analyzed to find out whether this passion is innate in me or whether I have picked this up along the way. I couldn’t find an accurate answer but I believe it is both. I have an innate urge for innovation and along the way, situations especially business situations fanned this urge into a flame.
I firmly believe the next 10 years will be watershed years for us as Indians. So I would like to contextualize this four part series to our nation.
In this series I will not venture into the nitty-gritties of innovation or the latest trends in innovation but I will focus on laying a strong foundation in terms of the MINDSET required to be an INNOVATOR.
In this journey CREATIVITY will be our starting point. To create something new or novel requires creativity. Moreover what is created has to be useful to the society or it should have people who use it or subscribe to it.
It may be an idea, a process – a certain way of doing things or it can be a new product. So to come up with something new, novel, original or which has never existed before we need creativity.
We all are familiar with the adage “NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION”. We often hear it.
Going by this universally accepted and popular adage we understand until we are not compelled to create something new there will not be any invention. That means you are compelled to overcome a difficulty and efforts to overcome this difficulty will lead you to invent using your CREATIVITY.
Second, we can also plan inventions. One reason for doing so is we foresee and forecast future needs. In order to meet and satisfy those needs we plan invention. Few examples of this are how R & D facilities are setup with an ultimate aim of producing new or advanced technologies.
The other reason is to make human life better and alleviate the plight and ills faced by the humanity. To do that we make changes to the existing systems and make human life better. The activity undertaken is INNOVATION, improving the existing systems with new ideas and processes.
CREATIVITY coupled with INNOVATION become the pillars of all human endeavors which try to make human life better.
It will not be outrageous to say if creativity and innovation are absent, there will be no progress and advancement.
CREATIVITY and INNOVATION play a big and a great role in development and advancement of humanity.
If the stakes are so high, then they have to be nurtured, fostered and pursued with a single minded intent and dedication.
The key to cultivate and foster an environment of CREATIVITY and INNOVATION is to understand what I call the 3Cs of CREATIVITY and INNOVATION which are:
- Character
- Context
- Capability
Generally people associate CREATIVITY and INNOVATION to the RIGHT BRAIN Activity.
We know that our brain is divided into two sections, LEFT and RIGHT. It is also a proven fact that LEFT part our brain focuses on LOGIC, SEQUENCING, and ANALYSIS and so on and the RIGHT part of our brain focuses on THINKING, IMAGINATION, FEELINGS and RHYTHM.
Does this mean that these two hemispheres work in isolation? No, they function together.
In a sense the dominating activity of the brain whether RIGHT or LEFT defines the PERSON. RIGHT BRAINEES generally tend to be creative and imaginative and the left more analytical and in today’s context digital.
Does this mean that we first find out what is the dominating activity of our brain either LEFT or RIGHT and then try creativity and innovation?
The answer is a big NO. We can cultivate and foster CREATIVITY and INNOVATION, no matter what the dominating activity of your brain is.
Now the million dollar question is how can you cultivate that?
More important than the dominating activity of a person’s brain is the STRENGTH of PERSON’S CHARACTER, which we will discuss as the first of the 3Cs in our next post.
