It’s Spring: the time for energy, love and new ideas – 3 bold innovations for a new world
I work in the Business Innovation team at Tata Consultancy Services in London and one day my boss asked me to write down my thoughts on the following question: “What is innovation?” . I was immediately very inspired, which led me to deepen my thoughts in this somewhat “crazy” article ( which may not be so crazy in fact ). Don’t be too shocked because, in my team, our motto is ” Go Big or Go Home “ . My goal here is to share some inspiring ideas of the new world I want to live in and hopefully be part of the group of people who will lead such change.
I’ll start by sharing with you a “magical” view of the innovation model and then how we could possibly change the world with 3 radical innovations.
A natural and magical model of innovation for the new world
For me, innovation is a constant improvement of what is.
It’s trying new things until you find a satisfying solution.
For example, I regularly changed the position of the furniture in my home for 3 months until I found the perfect layout. Another example: every two weeks (almost every week in fact!), with my team, we try new remote working methods, until we keep the best ones: those that work.
A natural wheel of evolution (and survival)
The innovation catalyst (or the magic spark)
Innovation is a natural thing that comes with problems, and if no innovation is made, a decline is almost certain. Everyone knows that if a company or an empire (the human empire?) does not innovate, it naturally collapses.
A key element is the catalyst for change, that magical thing that comes out of nowhere, at the right time, the “magic wand” , like the fairy in Cinderella.
Indeed, in professional processes such as user experience or sales, the catalyst can be the “brilliant idea” received in the shower or during a brainstorming session, or even more magical: synchronicity. If you don’t know what synchronicity is, look at the story of the Golden Scarab which led Carl Jung to define this phenomenon.
The coronavirus: a catalyst
In all stories, the hero does not want to be the hero, he does not believe he is the hero, but events push him to unfold his greatest potential, for example Luke in Star Wars or Neo in The Matrix.
Today, it seems that the COVID-19 pandemic is the catalyst that many people on this Earth have been consciously waiting for or not (waiting for the catalyst – not the virus) and it’s time for us humans to show our more great potential.
How can we change the world?
If we look again at the visual of the Storytelling process above, we are now in the Change part of the cycle. Now is the time to make bold decisions and adopt new strategies, to truly be in tune with who we are and what we want for the new world. Now is the opportune time to innovate, it’s an opportunity for humanity to finally make those tough decisions, to change our comfortable but selfish ways.
Innovation #1: Invest massively in inner peace for all and the human experience
The word innovation comes from the Latin In (Interior) and Novate (New), thus Change from within . We have to change our mindset, our perception of life.
As we learn to clean our house to feel good, we must learn to clean our minds of “garbage” and dusty thoughts.
Knowing that we have between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts a day, the goal is to fill our mind with thoughts of Love, gratitude or better: emptiness, in order to be able to take advantage of the present moment and all the gifts that Life gives us. has given so far.
There are many ways to “clean” our mind. We just have to start by looking inside, taking inventory and cleaning up! We can get help from many sources, from a psychotherapist, self-help books, coaches, etc. It must be a “daily job”. Not just people with depression or noticeable mental illnesses. Indeed, we all have traumas that have negative consequences on what is going on in our minds today. Finding and maintaining peace at all times is the hardest thing to do, so daily training is necessary for this inner peace muscle !
Good habits and mental health teachings should be brought to school from an early age and should be an important part of the education system.
Imagine a world where 100% of people are peaceful and happy. What would this world look like?
Innovation #2: Review all our current activities and innovations and assess their impact on nature, wildlife and humans
The human race is clearly dominant on this planet, so we have great power but above all great responsibilities.
Governments and global institutions should take the time to examine all harmful activities and take bold action. We have seen how easy it is to reduce pollution.
So let’s apply new rules for the world:
- Can we impose a regular global lockdown throughout the year? Every Sunday ? Every year for 2 months?
- How can we use existing technologies and industries differently?
- Can we focus on the independence of all humans in terms of energy and food supply?
- What else can we do? This is a large and ambitious project and experts from each industry are needed.
This also applies to each individual.
Innovation #3: Any new project or innovation must go through strict filters for a new better world
I think decisions should now be made from a TOTALLY different angle. We should filter the innovation activities of companies, governments and any institution with this type of sequence (not exhaustive of course):
- Is it good for our planet Earth? What could be the negative consequences on nature in the short, medium and long term?
- Is it good for animals? Will this innovation have a direct or indirect negative impact on wildlife?
- Is it good for humans? Are we making sure the human experience is ideal? Are we hurting anyone? What is the risk of stress for people?
- Do we have a diverse panel of stakeholders to be able to make the best decisions? Do we have men, women, people from the LGBT community, differently empowered people, different cultures, different generations etc…? We know diversity brings the best in any project because instead of having a 2D image of a subject, like a square shape, we add all the different sides to it and that gives us a 3D cube!
Conclusion and a magical wink
If all human beings were a single being, we would currently be at the stage of a toddler, playing and destroying everything. Our loving Mama (Mother Nature) is now telling us, ” Enough now!”
Working in user experience and sales, I’ve noticed that there’s a common pattern:
- Discovery
- Identifying the problem
- Definition of the solution
- Solution development
- and finally the success or failure of the solution
It’s actually a model of innovation that we also find in Agile methods, Storytelling and I’m sure in many other areas! In fact, nature holds the secret to the original model of innovation: the wheel of evolution!
For me, the storytelling process illustrates this model of innovation in the best way:
Image (modified) by Stefan Keller on Pixabay
I published this article in English on 04/22/2020 = 4/4/4 – 4 being the symbol of creative power and solid foundations 😉
This is numerology and you can learn about it thanks to the numerological diary that I created in partnership with Djamila Babour, numerologist!
Feel free to comment, disagree, or add your ideas to this article!
With Love, Cecile