Creativity vs. Innovation

I talked to an acquaintance this week who told me how enamored he is with the show American Inventor. Then he said he had a great idea himself, but is afraid to tell anybody about it because he fears someone would steal his concept. This struck me as peculiar because if the show American Inventor teaches anything, it is how damn difficult it is to take something from an idea to a commercially successful product. It is the difference between creativity and innovation. As the link points out, there is no shortage of seemingly great ideas in business, but there is a shortage of people and companies who can turn the Muse into money.

The problem is most difficult for individuals who think there is somehow a shortcut between their idea and wealth beyond measure. When I began my career in the marketing business, I became skeptical of working with inventors who came to me for marketing advice. Many of these people made the mistaken assumption that because they were good at inventing, they would also be good at manufacturing, marketing, finance, distribution, etc. In other words, to protect their idea, they thought that they had better try and do it all. Talk about a recipe for disaster.

I have seen some individuals with truly great ideas for a product, but plain and simple, there are many more ideas that just won’t cut it. Unfortunately, because many individual inventors are reluctant to share their concepts, they are not exposed to genuine negatives that may deservedly squash their brainchild or ultimately improve it so it does have market viability.

Even in large, capable organizations there is a substantial gauntlet a creative new idea must travel before it can see the commercial light of day and become true innovation. As Marcus Ting-A-Kee points out in his From Start To End blog, organizations also need to ask what kind of innovation they are looking for before they start converting the creative output from their internal resources. Innovation doesn’t always need to be at the extreme of organizational capabilities and strategic scope.

If you are an entrepreneur/inventor that will not be deterred by the perils along the way, and you want some good advice on how to test an idea to see if it might potentially fly, a good place to start might be to read this Business Week interview with Seth Godin. However, be advised the path from creativity to innovation is not for the faint of heart.