Is it just me or is the power of the word innovation so diminished in business and industry that it rarely fires the imagination and sometimes barely captures the attention of customers, prospects, media, analysts and The Street?
Oh really? Another innovation? (Yawn)
The noun is thrown around like candy at a children’s parade. Marketing and executive management have homogenized the term by applying it to visions, ideas, products and services that may be unique and somewhat differentiated, but fail to rise to the strata of innovation.
Some companies have a strong heritage of innovation and consistently deliver on breakthrough ideas, processes and products. Think Apple. Google. 3M. Toyota. GE. These companies have earned the merit badge and can tout their achievements in branding and advertising with no shame.
The problem I have is that many other companies co-opt the term and debase it. They announce a revision or next generation release of a mature technology and assign and speak of new capabilities that aren’t really much of a leap forward; rather, they’re the next logical progression.
In business and economics, innovation is the catalyst to growth. It’s this spirit that fuels the American economy. But innovation is so over-hyped now, it’s nauseating. It frustrates me that it has become another buzzword.
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