Is Innovation now Status Quo?
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 05:20PM Heretical isn’t it? I’m just starting to wonder if some StatusQuo-itis isn’t seeping into innovation discussions. 
Seems more people are sounding a bit more prescribed than experimental in their advice and counsel. I hear more ‘should’, ‘ought’, ‘the’ than ‘could’, ‘can’, and ‘a’; more ‘best practices’ than ‘here’s a way’.
There are some great ways to do spur creativity and innovate, but I don’t think there is ‘the’ way. One of the very freeing things about innovation is that it’s a continuous experiment; what works today may or may not work tomorrow (if you have kids, you know this well). It’s good to innovate how you innovate!
I always get concerned when a vocabulary coalesces into jargon* and it seems like that’s happening with innovation. The era of everything being prescribed, of best practices, are coming to an end. While there are some absolutes, I believe success, intangible and tangible, will go to those who can experiment, learn, apply and iterate the fastest and most purposefully.
Do you agree? Am I over-reacting? Let me know your thoughts. And, if you can, just I asked you to watch out for ‘but’ last week, this week, listen for ‘should’, ‘ought’ and ‘the’ - and when you hear it, challenge it, because, Innovation and Status Quo should truly be oxymorons.
*Jargon – Old French jargon “a chattering” (of birds) from mid-14th C “unintelligible talk, gibberish, chattering, jabbering” also from English gargle from which we get gargoyle!
Best Practices, Heretic, Innovation, Prescribed, Status Quo in Culture, Innovation, Strategy 
Reader Comments (4)
Deb - I think you are right on. So many today are confusing "new product development" with innovation. Creating a new size, or new color of things you have created previously does not constitute innovation, yet many seem to be claiming that. I suppose to be fair, not all innovations are disruptive technologies, but that is what I think of when considering my personal definition of innovation.
There is the ying/yang of innovation - it's not well defined which gives you options and flexibility and also lets you call anything innovation - it's that 'grey' area and most of us are uncomfortable with the grey zones.
I guess it depends on the use the word innovation. You can't always say that a newly designed product is an innovation, right?
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