“I am NOT Innovative”

As we begin our Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS line-up of podcast topics for the new year… I thought I would begin with an issue that has “flustered” me for a long time. Specifically I am referring to those who in my career have claimed: “I am NOT Innovative!” 

I think you will find this podcast a little entertaining… but also very suggestive that EVERYONE has a little creativity inside them. And although some ignore it… some hide it… and some only selectively use creativity… INNOVATION can and should be a more standard part of life and every job. 

I hope you enjoy the listen!

Transcript

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Hello again and welcome to the new year of 2025. This is your monthly host and discussionist Marv Pickla. And this is the January of 2025 Inspiring Innovations Learning Moments Podcast. And if you're looking back and thinking and wondering, this year, 2025, will be our ninth year of Learning Moments Podcasting. And equal to our weekly triple I time blogs, we have remained centered on our principal personal, organizational, and business topics. And those being leadership and communication and professional development, and yeah, of course, my favorite innovation. Truly, I very much look forward to sharing my thoughts and recommendations on the fifteenth day of every month and on each and every special topic we try and cover. And in the end, my hope, my mission is to offer at least one idea, thought, or suggestion that will generate a unique, continuous improvement action that will help at your house, your workplace, your lives in general, or maybe all of them. But enough history talk. Enough of that. Let's get on with this new year's first topic area. This month, we're going to talk about a semi-common statement that comes from coworkers more often than it should. That statement is I'm not an innovator. I'm not innovative. I'm not the idea person. You know what I'm saying? Let me repeat it. I am not innovative, and I'm not the idea person. But let me kind of change and tell you why this is an important topic. During my career as like an agency director and inspiring innovations consultant, I can't apply a number to the number of times I've heard that, that I'm not an innovative person. You know, that's somebody else's job. However, as a lifelong student of this my profession, and my observational research shows that those same people that make those statements are almost sometimes offering great ideas for a brand new upcoming staff lunch, or creative, kind of creatively telling me what's wrong with one of my recent ideas. Or they're the first ones in the room to reset the room, the meeting room, so that everybody can see better. Are these good ideas? Innovations? Creative thinking moments? Damn, I mean darn right. I believe we have all experienced that innovation and creativity moment, you know, because it's almost a human state of mind. Think about it. I believe everybody thinks about how to make things better at home or at work sometime. Or they think about ways to do tasks easier, faster, better. And so maybe they can watch the next lions win, game, you know what I'm saying? Everyone has, I believe, a creative gene in their makeup, and that everybody has a choice to exercise and use that gene a lot or a little, whenever or on whatever they want. Right? Okay, so let's think about innovation and creativity in the workplace. Do employers hire you to remain the same, exactly the same, and never improve? Let me tell you by, you know, an example story. Quite a while ago, one of my sons brought home his report card with a bunch of, well, I'll say C's on it. And he told me that he thought he was doing pretty good and that getting C's really wasn't that bad. And so remember at this moment that my job, my real job, is getting people ready for interviewing for jobs or getting the next best job. So I told him, if you think getting C's is good enough, be sure to tell every person that you interview with for a job that you are just good enough and that you will be the most regular, just enough person every day, every day. Well, let me just say that the impact of that, you know, kind of message to my son, it didn't take long. It was kind of progressive, and I didn't see a whole lot of C's on his report card anymore. But the learning moment is that employers don't hire people hoping that you don't advance, share ideas, progressively grow. They just don't. Don't believe it for a minute. And innovation and creativity should not have to be written into a personnel policy handbook to make them an important priority. But wouldn't it be cool though, if creativity and innovation were part of every personnel policy handbook and then it was just included every time? Well, I think it's about time to wrap up for this month's Inspiring Innovations moment. But please know that one, creativity and innovation lives inside you. So use it. Every chance you get. Second, any and every job opportunity looks and hopes to observe professional, innovative, creative growth from you. They really do. They may not tell you that, but they really do. And you'll see it when it the return on that innovation investment. And that size and and the way of innovation and creativity really doesn't matter. It can be as simple as being the first person there to reset the meeting room so everybody learns better together. That's simple stuff, but it's still creative and energizes that innovative gene inside you. And fourth, making something a little better, improving an issue are major measuring sticks in the innovation and creativity areas. Just making it a little better. That's great movement in the world of work. So again, thanks so much for listening to this opening month of 2025 and this podcast. I hope the message helps you exercise your innovation and creativity, Gene. I know you got one, but it's up to you. It's really up to you. So thanks again, and we'll discuss something new next month.