Innovation Is Like Love.

Think about it. Innovation Is Deeply Human.

Everyone wants love but no one really wants to invest in themselves in order to become more loving. Becoming more loving requires a ton of sacrifice. Love hurts. True love anyways. It hurts our ego. And it should. Otherwise we would never experience it in all its splendor.

Isn’t that how innovation works too?

Every company wants to be more innovative but not many are embracing an innovative culture. Doing so would literally destroy the corporate ego. Every company has it. The larger the company, the larger the corporate ego. Sure, there are odd exceptions here and there. Actually, are there? Where …?

Companies, large and small, detest innovation. Do I need to say it again? Innovation has absolutely no place in a company. There you go. I’ve said it.

Innovation Is Personal.

It requires human creativity and human sensitivity. Human virtue. Human drive. Human inspiration. And I could go on and on. And when you think about it, companies, those non-human legal entities, have zero creativity. Zero sensitivity. And so on. A company is nothing but a necessary evil that is (still) required in the 21st century to “inspire corporate trust”. That’s all there is to it. Oh the paradox. Humans don’t trust companies. They trust other humans — as long as those humans are part of a company. Ha.

If a company were to truly adopt innovation in all its splendor, it would completely transform into something else. Into something resembling a human family. Into a gathering of humans who laugh together and spend time together and help each other zig zag through difficult life situations. A truly innovative company would resemble a loving family. That’s culture. And it’s hard. Actually, there’s nothing harder. Not business. Not technology.

It’s All About Culture.

Maybe true innovation and true love are not only similar, but maybe they are the same thing…

Whatever the case, you either have both or you have neither.

And if you are crazy enough to pursue innovation, you’re asking for a whole lot of pain. Transformational pain that is. Change hurts. Innovation hurts. Just like love. And so it should.

Otherwise great human innovations would not see the light of day and this world would stumble in darkness and emptiness.

So you still wanna innovate?

Good. Get ready to smash your ego into tiny little pieces and feel the pain of a new you. Then let’s talk and tell me all about it. If you allow yourself to go through that process I’d pay to hear your story.

Happy disruptive thoughts, friends.