Don't Be Afraid To Be Rejected

Maybe, my mouth is against my money…but when I offer to walk your innovation through The Innovation Mesh…I have not in mind to prevent you from acting, suggesting you shall fear that your innovation will be rejected.

Act!

Act swift (but not blind). Acting shows up risk and brings responsibility and you must choose…but most important it creates opportunities. It's difficult to recognize, but uncertainty is good.

UnFear!

Profesional innovators, unlike amateurs, don't fear failure. They don't walk away when success doesn't occur. Innovators do things the first time…each time they're unprepared for the reaction to it. "UnFear" means don't dare to try.

It's been done before?

No one's asking innovators to be the originator of everything. We're asking them, to change behavior, fix systems that behave bad…Even rewriting can be innovative. The done-before may not be "real".

It's too early?

When is the timing right? Never…if you fear to be rejected. And it's always too early…innovations are new and nobody knows how to use them. After the (big) computer was introduced it was predicted that a hand full will be needed world-wide…

Do things the first time may be the last time?

This was…when information and tools were so expensive. Now, with affordable tools, better communication channels, skill sharing…it has never been so easy to innovate…but entrepreneurship is in decline? Does this mean innovation went industrial?

What will the market say?

We call this the external value of innovations and we like to listen to focus groups (what's required). It's what we do to influence what the market will tell us…success (not criticism or rejection). But there's this other value, the internal, the one that enables antifragility…by tinkering and optionality (among other ways)...the most important value, IMO. 

By sharing my ideas (methodologies), I hope to help professional innovators leverage their businesses…My goal is to make the work practical and compelling…and accelerate time to release.

This post has been inspired by Seth Godin's great magazine style book It's Your Turn