Innovation — doing things differently and doing different things

“Innovation is simply doing things differently and doing different things”

~ {yours truly}

I distilled my thoughts on innovation to this definition many years ago.

It came to me in the picturesque Scottish village of Tobermory one late summer evening when daylight lasts beyond 10pm. it was around 8pm, tourists were walking around looking in shop windows, yet all the shops were closed.

They’d fallen prey to the most dangerous words in business: “we’ve always done it this way”, where always in that country is generally to open around 9am and close by 5pm. Imagine that in a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern country. No ? Of course not, they stay open when there are customers, and in the summer that means long into the night!

It was while walking around Tobermory it occurred to me that they could really benefit from some simple innovation. I thought to myself as I walked:

“Innovation isn’t technology, Disruption isn’t about technology. Innovation is simply doing things differently and doing different things.”

What if, I thought, they simply opened several hours later in the summer and shorter hours in the winter ? Simple. “Not rocket science” as the phrase goes.

Oh, and this is Tobermory. Visit when you can. Gorgeous !