e-nnovate
I’m in the middle of preparing a spring course on innovation for students in our Masters of Information Systems Management program and as I’ve been researching current thinking and actions, two interesting things have come up.
First, most courses on innovation are taught by professors who have researched innovation best practices, rather than by people who innovate for a living. And while there’s great learning to be had by studying what practitioners do, it would also be great to have more practitioners teach what they know, and what they do. Especially in all things electronica (both systems and products), since these things and systems surround us every waking (and sleeping) moment. So if you’re a practitioner, I’d love to hear from you, and discuss your approaches, thoughts, successes, and cautionary tales.
The second interesting thing was an offer I received from a colleague to brainstorm course content. It was a kind and earnest offer from a good and very experienced guy (former CIO who now teaches) who put it this way: “I’d be happy to talk about this and brainstorm with you. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and I can tell you what works and what doesn’t work as far as innovation is concerned.”
How many folks think of innovation this way, I wonder? The word “innovate,” according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, comes from the Latin
“in” (into) + “novus” (new): essentially, to “go into new” ideas, territory, thinking etc. And yet many people think of innovations as a list of what we know works and what we know doesn’t work.
And as we all know, it’s hard to be innovative (or appreciate innovation) when your top of mind list is “what we know works and what we know doesn’t work.”
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Tags: digital life, e-Marketing, electronic engagement, marketing