No matter what industry you are looking to dominate, sooner or later innovation will play a major role in your success – or lack thereof. According to Ronn Torossian, even in an environment or business paradigm that seems to change slowly or discourage out of the box thinking, innovation will eventually be necessary for continued success.
This is not because people are trying to create sweeping changes. In many cases, it’s just the opposite. Innovators are not trying to make massive “meta” changes to industries. They start out simply solving one problem, or improving one way to make a profit.
Consider, Henry Ford was not looking to put a bunch of people out of business or to create an entire industry when he applied assembly line tactics to his production floor. He was simply trying to build and sell cars in a way that allowed more people to own them while still protecting his profit margins.
Likewise, Jeff Bezos was not setting out to destroy publishing and kill bookstores when he started Amazon. He just saw a ton of money being left on the proverbial table and devised a way to collect it.
Both of these practical geniuses simply solved one initial problem that led to other challenges… and then others. As each new challenge was addressed, industries were created and destroyed.
Innovation dynamics work the same way even in individual jobs. Your employer may hire you to do a certain job in a certain way, but sooner or later, the market or the company or that task will change. If you can get ahead of that curve and change yourself BEFORE your employer or the market needs you to change – and you can make that practice a habit – you will become indispensable.
Further, true innovation also has vital and almost limitless public relations potential. The media loves “new” news. Anything that is legitimately new, or different, or special is bound to get attention. And, if you can do it in a way that will get people looking and keep people looking, the media will continue to give you attention.
Bottom line, when you are considering how to devise your own career ascent, never underestimate the power of innovation – in your job, in your plans, and in your communication. If you can channel and present the extraordinary, that’s exactly the sort of success you can achieve.
