Have seen the ‘I’ word hauled out a fair bit recently, which probably explains why I’ve become rather sensitive to it.
Especially when it’s wielded like some kind of placebo in place of actual policy by our beloved political leaders. So when an article titled ‘Only the Innovative Survive’ (with the slightly odd capitalisation) I think it might have tipped me over the edge. Well, not exactly. Just to want to rant an opinion about it.
To be clear, yes, of course innovation is important. Unfortunately, to get it, it needs to start with its much less glamorous sibling, improvisation.
And I guess, as improvising sounds a bit like ‘muddling through’ and something daydreamers do, it really doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
As a result, the clarion call to Innovate! Now! often remains just an aimless ambition. Which might suit political expediency, by keeping things sounding grand but without actually needing to commit to something (or preferably, anything), but it ain’t going to help an economy.
Whereas improvisation could. So why all the shyness with it? To me, it seems the obvious thing to do when times are tough - as when they are, people are even more reluctant to innovate as the oddly capitalised article stated:
“Indeed, most companies aren’t willing to run the risk of being innovative during a downturn. There’s a danger of wasting resources and overextending yourself at a time when businesses are the most vulnerable.”
and improvisation is actually about looking to get more out of what you actually have, rather than searching about for new stuff to fix old (or rather immediate) problems.
Improvising is often, by necessity, the mother of invention. And we seem to be particularly good at it and should be looking to help businesses embrace it, as we all can’t get by - let alone survive - on innovation alone.
The sheer spontaneous joy of improv, with all its uncertainly and unexpectedness, using only what you have to hand is the best way to start improving things. Rather than hope for new things to materialise to fix them alone.
And it never struck me until I just typed this, that improvise and improve are only separated by two letters - and what better place to begin, than with the word ‘is’, our lovely latin present tense third-person singular of ‘be.’ See? You’re already making good.
