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Innovation is All Around Us
Innovation is all around us. We are already in a world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), driverless cars, NFTs. And soon, the promise of the Metaverse replacing reality will become real as more seek refuge in our screens.
In the world of music, almost anyone can compose on computers, with no instrument needed and voices that can be manipulated to give the illusion of a full band. It is the same in the world of books where approximately 2,700 new titles are released every day, while authors figure out how to stay relevant.
When we strive to innovate and bring the next big thing to market, we sometimes forget our foundation. And when it’s all about speed, we may think we are moving forward when in essence, we sometimes go backwards. We lose focus on the quality of our music, books and art.
Innovation Can’t Be Rushed
When we’re imagining and dreaming of possibilities, we may not always have the words to describe them. There is something about sitting with our ideas and not rushing that sometimes goes against the norm. But sometimes it takes time to transform ideas into words.
Not everything fits into an elevator pitch or deck at the beginning. When we are in new territory, we need space to discover and explore.
Innovation is not just about products and what we make; it’s about culture, how we talk to each other, how we relate, how we are in challenging moments together, and how we work with our disturbances and hopes to create deeper relationships and understandings. That’s the ground for innovation: it comes from the fabric of our lives.
We can talk about innovation as things outside of ourselves, but true innovation comes from what is inside. We don’t split our professional selves and leave our personal selves at home. This is where organizations get stuck; they are not telling the whole story and they are not living their wholeness. We hear fragments of the story—the parts that are palatable or that we think will get us funding.
Wholeness is Messy and Necessary
Conscious leadership is about the mess of life and the nuances of our stories, and making more of life out of this complexity. What can we learn from our deep feelings, our untold histories, our failures, our loves, our whole selves? What would happen if we could tell the whole story?
This is a radical act of leadership, daring to share—and live—the messiness of our wholeness.