Why should people learn to innovate?

In my entrepreneurial journey I’ve come across people who pretty much don’t care about ‘innovation’ but what they do care about is how they can extract (notice I said extract and not create) more value from their customers. It’s fair to say that those of us who preach the ‘there’s always a better way’ gospel run into this type of thinking all the time.

Yet how do we explain to these people that they too should learn to wield the sword?

Here’s my answer:

Because innovation is change and change is better.

We all have the innate ability to be creative and therefore with help, collaborate towards something better. Innovation is a team sport and is something we must constantly be doing and not outsource it to a special few. Anybody can and should contribute and I believe it is our job (leaders) to bring them with us.

Sure there’s risk involved but then again when has anything worthwhile been done without risk? We don’t have to minimize risk, we have to manage it to push us forward.

Bottom line is innovation is something that results in something that is bigger than ourselves and this in turn brings society together in new ways towards progress.

What say you?