Innovation is not pixie dust...
The classic Beatles song “All You Need is Love” breaks down all the world’s problems into one simple solution: love.
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.
It’s easy. All you need is love, all you need is love.
If you listen to today’s leaders, innovation has replaced the Beatles’ love as the one simple solution that will solve all of today’s most pressing challenges. Need to find a solution to the global economic crisis? It’s simple—innovation. Unhappy with the heated political dialogue that inhibits civil discourse between parties? Not to worry—innovation is coming to the rescue. And finally, not willing to make the hard choices required to solve this country’s budget crisis? Now you don’t have to. All you need is innovation.
I’m kidding of course. But if you’ve read the headlines over the past few weeks, you’d be hard-pressed to disagree that innovation isn’t the answer to every question and the solution to every problem. And by doing this, our business and political leaders shortchange any realistic discussion that could help them solve the complex problems we face today. Even worse, they dilute the importance of how innovation can monetize the “generation of ideas” that drives growth for situations where it is actually most appropriate.
Let’s face it—innovation is not the solution for most of what ails business and society. It’s not a replacement for leadership, and it can’t help overcome poor policy decisions. It won’t drive economic growth if the underlying decision-making process behind it is flawed. And it’s a very poor substitute for a solution that requires some very hard choices to be made in terms of fixing this country’s current budget mess. In short, innovation is not pixie dust.
Here’s the takeaway: Innovation is not the solution to every problem. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can solve our most pressing business and political challenges.