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Innovation Quotations

Posted on Thursday, 30 October 2008 12:17PM by John Chambers
 

Innovation Quotations


Here are some of my favourite innovation quotations and why I find them so interesting:


“Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.”  Bill Gates

A bit “Churchillian”, but we live in exciting times: the availability of technology, global markets and instant communications makes this a great time to be in the innovation business!


"Capital isn't so important in business. Experience isn't so important. You can get both these things. What is important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn't any limit to what you can do with your business and your life." Harvey Firestone

Ideas are the lifeblood of innovation.  Without them, we cannot innovate.  With them, we can do (almost!) anything.  Very few companies have an inventory of their ideas!



“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away" Linus Pauling

We never ask our clients to look for good ideas.  If you look for good ones, you will find very few.  If you look for ideas you will find lots of them – and some of them will be capable of greatness.


"A good idea is one which, with hindsight, is obvious" John Chambers

I couldn't resist putting that one in!  Good ideas very often look obvious when they have been in the market for a few years, but the same ideas usually looked pretty revolutionary when they were first created!



“The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child.” Thomas Edison

And the best way to generate ideas is by thinking with a child’s mind – no judgement, no limits, no problems.



 
“Some men look at things the way they are and ask why? I dream of things that are not and ask why not?" Robert Kennedy
 
“Dreaming” is often frowned upon in business, but there are times when it is vital in order to develop new ideas.  Of course, it needs to be done in the right place and at the right time, such as in a well defined workshop session.



 
“We have approximately 60,000 thoughts in a day. Unfortunately, 95% of them are thoughts we had the day before” Deepak Chopra

This underlines the need for different stimuli when we are innovating.  We need to be trained to think in ways that will overcome the mindsets we all suffer from.  If we could reduce that percentage from 95 to just 90, that would mean an extra 3,000 new ideas each day!



"Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, is the definition of crazy." Anon

 We need to have the courage to try new things if we expect to get new results.


 
“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative” Woody Allen
 
And, yes, sometimes we will fail.  But a good innovation system will limit the risk and cost through experience and controlled innovation procedures.
 
 

Do you have a favourite innovation quotation? If so, please share it: contact me at johnchambers@sword.co.uk
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