#15 The Innovation Rollercoaster – You’ll never walk alone!

The Serious Innovation Newsletter #15

Have you ever felt that your idea does not really become reality? Feeling that there is always something stopping up the momentum you were about to build?

As we all know the intoxicating flow of idea generation does not last forever. Every innovator knows that there are more obstacles and hard work before you succeed than you could ever imagine. Innovation is a rollercoaster ride which is all about never giving up. When looking closely into the subject it really seems only a nut head would jump into the front seat of such a voyage.
But never the less people do succeed…

So to offer you some help in your struggles the English design firm What if? has produced a list of ten common problems that can occur while making your idea come true. A list that you can feel comfort in reading and understand that we have all been through this and some of us have even reached the finish line. A kind of psychoanalytical recognition exercise that can help you understand that people has walked this path before.
We are right behind you, pal – you’ll never walk alone!

1. At the end of the creative session someone takes the notes to type up. Three weeks later, when you eventually see them, they communicate none of the excitement you felt at the meeting.

2. Halfway through a project, trading conditions dictate that only a fraction of funds promised are available to support the launch.

3. Your technical colleagues shake their heads and say, “Sorry we’ve changed our minds, we can’t make it to the original spec.”

4. Your project never seems to be the first thing on your list of urgent things to do.

5. The new finance director asks for the facts about how much of this new idea you will sell.

6. The board suffers collective memory loss and forgets why it was a good idea in the first place.

7. Your team don’t call you anymore to tell you what they think you should do next.

8. Your boss leaves.

9. You hear that a competitor is about to launch the same thing.

10. Your partner calls you when you are working late again, and they are not impressed with your excuses about the importance of momentum. Your dinner ends up in the dog.

So, you see. You are not alone. We have all experienced the same. And Bill Gates still became the richest man in the world starting from a garage. So, do not loose your momentum. Hang on in there buddy – the future is yours and it is shimmering.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 15th, 2006 at 13:50. It is filed under Newsletters and tagged with idea generation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.