Today I gave up
But I learned something along the way.
I’ve been trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole. It’s something I enjoy doing. Solving problems. Making things work. Making processes that make visons achievable.
I’ve been trying to make something that shouldn't fit, fit. I’ve tried and I’ve tried. I bent my brain. I’ve stamped my feet. I’ve talked it through. I’ve almost begged. But I can’t do it. It just can’t fit.
Why? I have my suspicions and they go a little like this…
I always say that to innovate you need to tick the boxes around the outside in order to play in the middle. You need to acknowledge systemic boundaries, then play in the middle. Many of you have heard me say this, right?
Alas, I have been proved wrong. Or at least, I may have been. I think.
Let’s talk about ‘Big I’ innovations. Big innovations that shake the core of your work. Big innovations that focus on changing the soul of what you do. Big innovations that have a profound impact on your environment. You know the ones, those big ‘elephant in the corner’ innovations.
These ‘Big I’ Innovations need to be treated differently to the ‘Little i’ innovations. And I think that I have been treating them the same. Approaching the integration of them in the same way. Rookie error.
My new (and still slightly painful and vulnerable) thinking goes like this…
These big hairy bodacious ‘Big I innovations’ not only need the integration strategies that we use for ‘Little i’ innovations, but they also need leaders that prepare for war. They need leaders to dust off their Teflon suits and engage the buffer zones. These innovation need an understanding of soft landings and safety.
These ‘Big I’ innovations are changes that dig into your soul. They tap your passions. They give you a focus on your intended impact that is so determined and narrow that you want to fight to the death for it. (Well at least shed a few tears in a passionate exchange in a meeting room.) The innovations take strength and a razor-like focus to fight against the norm and to stop being pulled back into the box.
When fighting ‘the box’ we become vulnerable and exposed to failure. We need leaders to believe in us and wrap us in trust. We need a leader who will fight for the endpoint. Leaders who believe that the impact of the innovation is worth the pressure needed to break the box. It takes a team for these ones.
This is where I have sat for the last few days. Failing. Thinking. Wishing. Apologising. Wanting. But acknowledging. Growing.
So next time the hairy bodacious ‘Big I’ innovation turn the corner and head my way… I will know that no box will suffice and that I need a leader who has their Teflon suit primed and ready. And if not, it’s probably best that I just keep on dreaming…
or should I …?
