Innovators are born, not developed...

As usual, I planned on writing this month’s blog post about the real estate market. Since the election, everything I read indicates that the new administration will be great for the real estate market. That’s said, and whether you believe it or not, I decided to change topics and talk about innovation. 

I am probably one of the few people who find it difficult to believe that innovation can be taught to anyone. In fact, I often wonder why universities teach class after class about innovation, as I believe innovators are born, and not developed through higher education.                                       

I was recently reading some material written by a friend who started by saying, and I quote, 

“We are all natively born with two human abilities. The survival instinct does not need to be nurtured. But creativity will wilt if not nurtured.”

He goes on to say that all domains have their rules and culture but the more diffuse the domain, the harder it is to innovate.

Novel ideas, introduced into a domain, are validated by experts and wise old guys and brought into the culture.

Creative individuals are remarkable in their ability to adapt to almost any situation to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals. If nothing else, this distinguishes them from the rest of us.

My friend goes on to say that transformation is the antecedent to creating value. Every business starts with a dream, but if the dream is about making money, you’re not going anywhere. If it’s about making a difference, then the sky is the limit.

The soul of an innovator is to be a moving target, constantly doing new things.