INNOVATION is “Easier” Today!

It is always fun to think about… write about and talk about INNOVATION! In my mind INNOVATION no matter its application, target or purpose… always provides a special spark of creative energy that has “staying power.” 

Well this month in my Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENT podcast, I have tried to explain and in words demonstrate how and why: INNOVATION is “Easier” Today! In every sector, smaller spin-off ideas of INNOVATION have made a great impact in all areas of our life and work. The end result is that innovativity (I hope that’s a real word) has become more common and “Easier” than ever before. 

I hope this month’s podcast motivates everyone to “exercise” their INNOVATION muscles and offer more unique options to benefit us all. 

Enjoy the listen. 

Transcript

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Hello again and welcome to the August of 2026 Inspiring Innovations Learning Moments Podcast. As always, this is your discussionist host, Marv Pickla. And for those out there maybe keeping score, this episode is part of almost 10 years now of sharing positive, progressive messages with you. Yeah, it seems like a long time ago when the Inspiring Innovations team suggested that we expand from just doing weekly blog messages and start having a podcast segment that would come out maybe like the 15th of every month. Well, if I've never told you the story, the gang had to explain what a podcast was to me at that point in time. And so we said yes. And here we are today, almost 10 years later. And during all those times and years, we've had four major topic areas leadership, communication, professional development, and innovation as the common themes, topics for each episode. And the only change that we have made to the podcast so far was to extend the length of the whole episode to ten minutes. And that seems short in the podcast world, but hey, you know, everybody's attention span is a little shorter, and it just seems to work for the kinds of messages we're getting out there. So it's been a great run over the years, and deep down I hope everyone gets something progressively helpful out of every message every month. Okay, enough history for this learning moment segment. This month, we're going to talk about why innovation is easier today. Yeah, you heard me. Innovation is easier today. And I'm thinking even before we really get started talking about it, I can hear several of you out there saying that, well, everything that's been invented already has, or most people aren't smart enough to come up with a new cool idea anyway, or we need to slow down on that innovation stuff anyhow. I haven't learned how to even take good pictures with my phone yet, so I just say let's slow down. Well, I can't say I entirely disagree with the comments like that, but today I'm going to suggest that we look at innovation in a more simple, flexible, expansive way, and then hopefully get everybody to agree that maybe innovation is easier today. First, think about all of the innovations that have occurred, and they come out as products, right? And it never gets to the point of looking at it, what happens after that, when it's put in service, and how those products become the focus of additional extra innovations down the road. Let me talk about an example. Look at all the new uses of different technologies only in the farming area. Whether it's a GPS mapping system for a hundred-acre field and programming the tractor so it steers itself? Or maybe even the drones that take pictures to gain a better idea for the use of high-priced fertilizer and weed sprays, and they say that means farmers save money and increase productivity. The bottom line is that each new application, in my mind, of technology in this way is innovation. It's a specialty innovation piece out there. And so it is out there for everybody, and it's easier because they're kind of add-ons. But it becomes its whole new area. I say innovation is easier today. Next, consider innovation in the customer connection diversity area. Are you thinking? Consider the almost standardization of the three ways of learning today traditional in person, virtual remote, or pure online learning. Most public colleges and high schools even have adopted these options to engage students in learning and then become regularly credentialed. Think about online shopping and the option of drive-through pickup of your groceries. The innovation involved in these opportunities aren't product based, rather, they're creative adaptions from other service areas that help make customers happier, feeling better, and make better use of their whole shopping experience. Are these interactions with people maybe lessened then? Yeah. Maybe there are fewer jobs out there then because of these kinds of innovations? Maybe. But it's truly an example of innovation that is easier today. Lastly, consider innovation being easier today with regard to public sector stuff and government itself. Think about, say one, the speed of service delivery improvements generated by organizations being able to make fast surveys and get better market service research information. And then as a result of that, they can change what they do quicker, faster, and hopefully be more effective. Next, think of the impacts that we now know because of extra innovation about global technologies and economies, and its effect on local costs of living and unique product availability. Just the different expansions on existing products have created different areas of innovation that just happened. Third, thinking about the adaptability of innovation by the public sector to make more on-time, better up-to-date service changes, eligibility changes, marketing changes, trying to get out and reach more people changes. It's all out there, and it's quicker and faster. You may not like it all, but bottom line, innovation does come easier today. And finally, think about the development of public service that longer than ten years ago were considered behind the times. Okay? That right now we come across new ideas and new innovations that maybe we thought we were 10 years ahead of our time in the old days? Well, now maybe you could barely be five years ahead of yourself when you think about innovations that are happening in the public service sector. Innovation, I say, is easier today. Well, we are again quickly out of time, but here are just a few more issues to look at when you think about the fact that innovation is easier today. First, don't be afraid of innovation. People are more looking for change today, so progress happens, and it's important to take advantage of it. Next, innovation is needed as a standard business procedure out there in our marketplace, just to stay competitive in all of our natural marketplace areas. And third, innovation does not have to be a big business or agency restructuring event with big costs. Rather, I think we need to recognize, reward, and celebrate the small innovations that happen in your business or in your community continually just because of the extension and adaptability of innovative products that are already out there. I said it before. Innovation can be contagious. So catch the opportunity. Thanks so much for listening. I think you'd have fun re listening to this message just to get the most out of what I the points I was trying to make about innovation being just a little easier today. And remember, we'll talk more next month.