Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins. Source: supplied.
Eight experts explain why innovation is an iterative process that relies on trial and error, requiring a pragmatic, adaptable and ego-free mindset that keeps chipping away.
“Ideas aren’t a valid currency. Execution is the only valid currency in business,” writes Paul Jarvis in Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business.
“To clarify, as this can feel like a fairly controversial point to make, an idea alone is worthless because it stands outside of execution. So, for example, the idea itself, that growth should be questioned, is something I’ve been sharing for years online, in my newsletter and podcasts and with anyone who’ll listen.
“Too often we believe that we get only one chance to launch a product or a business, that the first splash is all that matters. If it doesn’t become massively profitable right away, we think, then it’s doomed. We somehow feel that there’s magic in the first time we open our (sometimes digital) doors to the public. The problem with this thinking is that most launches aren’t massive successes. Yes, they can be slightly profitable (if everything goes right), but often things don’t pay off as quickly as we hoped, because we’re still mostly guessing in the beginning. We guess at the intended audience, the positioning of the product, and the value that audience will assign to what we’re selling.
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