Excellence: Creativity is not Innovation

As I move along this book, I see that Peter Drucker's principle of employing the "whole" person is pretty central to this book. In fact, the book actively champions the principle and supports it with umpteen anecdotes, stories and examples. It mixes it pretty nicely with having a strong focus on the end-user. In this whole mix, something that struck me as pretty important was the place of creativity and innovation in this whole equation. The writers are pretty clear: creative and new ideas come dime by dozen. What is rare is the ability to see a practical use for these ideas, the will to implement a vision and the willingness to learn by experimentation. This is termed as innovation and dubbed as one of the most critical factors behind the success of excellent companies.

I think this should serve as a stark warning for new entrepreneurs and inventors alike: if you do not get the business basics right but have a good product, ultimately you will be displaced by somebody who can take your ideas to the end customer in a better way. Or, as the book says, an innovator can be an idea-thief (not always). Patents may not always help as there can be many ways to achieve the same thing. Once anybody has proved that a market exists, everybody would want a piece of it. Fewer problems and good communication would help to retain customers. Hence, it may be worth it to go a few months late into the market if it means lesser problems with the product. Moreover, the second-mover can potentially learn from the mistakes of the first mover and cash on it. As I read somewhere, the early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese! The vice-versa is also true: to start an enterprise one does not need a multi-million dollar research team: an innovative idea and customer focus will suffice.

One-off big bets with strong patent possibilities (as in pharma, computer chips, chemicals and biotech) may come to the mind as exception to this rule. The book points that the culture of innovation and openness fosters new products (as in 3M) and there is no substitute for innovation. Confusing it with creativity can take one down the wrong road.