CX Strategic Knowledge · CX Misconceptions
Innovation ≠ small improvements or variations
Innovation means something completely new. Workshops that generate ideas nobody ships are theater.
Innovation is a completely new method, approach, product, or service, not minor improvements or variations on competitors. Most innovation programs are theater: workshops that cost real money, produce ideas that never reach market, and run while fundamentals stay broken.
Innovation has a strict definition: a completely new method, approach, product, or service. Minor improvements are not innovation. Variations on competitors are not innovation. Workshop ideas are not innovation. The real thing is rare and high-risk, which is exactly why the word gets diluted.
Audit an innovation program with a few blunt questions. What did the workshops actually cost? How many ideas became real innovations? How many reached the market? What was the ROI? Did customers actually want them?
Most programs cannot answer these questions well because the pressure to innovate is self-imposed. Teams run innovation exercises while the fundamentals of the experience remain broken. That is theater, not progress.
Apply this
Reading about innovation ≠ small improvements or variations is one thing. Seeing where it applies in your journey is the useful part.