You hear it often — “Innovate!” “Be creative!” and even the tired “think outside the box.”
These are hot topics for business media. BusinessWeek magazine recently introduced a quarterly supplement about innovation. Last year, CNBC produced a five-hour series called the “Business of Innovation.” Popular small-business magazines, such as Inc., Entrepreneur and Fast Company often highlight innovative companies.
So is all this buzz about innovation and creativity just the latest business fad? We don’t think so — and we’ve seen local businesses benefit from embracing these as core values.
Combining online ordering with baby boomers’ fond memories of a service from yesteryear, Homemilkman.com in Everett brings milk and other dairy products to your front door. Co-owner Steve Smith says the milk he delivers is five to seven days fresher than what you buy at the grocery store. Add a retro logo and a sleek white delivery truck and you have a thriving business. For Homemilkman.com, what was old is now new.
Even dogs can be helped by creativity. Pat Anderson, owner of Dogbone Inc. in Marysville, believes she has solved the problem of long-eared dogs dipping their ears coming in their food or water. Her company’s “Ear-resistible” animal feeding dish looks like a dog bone, thus keeping the ears out the food, which help to prevent ear infections. Her cocker spaniel, Norman, was the source of her inspiration.
The demand for creativity and innovation comes from customers’ expanding choices. This is evident in quick visit to the Marysville Wal-Mart Supercenter or Costco. With many similar options, a creative product can stand out.
Also, with the growth of the Internet, there are fewer barriers to starting a new business. In this age of instant access to information, if you create a new money-making business idea, it won’t be long before you have lots of friends copying your concept. Many new ideas quickly become old because we always want the latest and greatest.
Innovation and creativity can seem risky, especially for established businesses. It can also seem like something that can’t be learned or taught. Not true.
We have spent this past year infusing innovation and creativity exercises into our entrepreneurship program. For example, we created a design course that combines art, engineering and business. During the fall quarter, student teams developed design ideas for a proposed 66,000-square-foot downtown civic complex for the city of Marysville. Students used sustainable business practices and green design elements in their projects. The concepts were presented to city officials at the end of the term to rave reviews. Mayor Dennis Kendall gave the class projects “an A for effort and innovation.”
We strongly recommend two books to explore innovation and creativity. The first is “A Whole New Mind — Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future,” by Daniel Pink. Pink is a former White House speechwriter and is also the best selling author of “Free Agent Nation.” He lays out practical and fun tools and exercises to sharpen six aptitudes to improve your creative thinking.
The other book is “The Ten Faces of Innovation” by Tom Kelley. Kelley is the general manager of IDEO, a world renowned design firm. He outlines strategies for spreading innovation through your entire company. He believes you can “turn up the volume on any person’s creativity” by identifying different roles employees can play to spark the innovative process.
The news is full of stories of an impending economic slowdown. Innovative businesses will be better able to navigate the storm. How are current economic conditions affecting your business? What kind of plans are you putting in place to weather a possible recession?
Pat Sisneros is the dean of Everett Community College’s Business and Applied Technology Division. Lynne Munoz is the director of EvCC’s School of Business Design. Comments can be sent to entrepreneurship@everettcc.edu.
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