Making only big bets can actually hinder your innovation progress. Instead, consistently look for small opportunities. In this series, Ron Price examines the 12 enemies of successful innovation. Number 11 is making only big bets.
Episode Transcript:
We’re looking at the 12 enemies of successful innovation. Today, we’re going to look at enemy number 11: making only big bets. The truth is that most innovation is incremental. It’s what we call iterative, it’s making little improvements here and there, it’s studying, learning, and tweaking. It’s only occasionally that we make these really big bets that we could refer to as hitting a home run. The reality is that the most successful baseball players are those who get on base more often, not those who hit more home runs. In the same way, the most successful innovators are those who keep making little improvements and learning as they go through the Build, Measure, Learn method which is a powerful way to keep learning. It’s one of the most important investments that we make during innovation initiatives. As you learn incrementally, you’re preparing yourself for bigger opportunities. And when those come across your path, you’re more ready to recognize and respond to them. Leaders often think of investments in innovation as being something big, as being something that changes the whole world, but it’s not really so. Don’t keep looking for the next big thing! Your competitors should be more worried when you have the bases loaded. And that helps you to overcome the eleventh enemy of successful innovation: only making big bets.
Discover the other enemies of innovation in this 90 Seconds of Innovation series here or by subscribing on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts so you don’t miss an episode. Tweet your innovation questions to @ebaiya. | Header Photo by Vojtech Okenka via Pexels.
