Innovation Danger!

Before I explain the extreme danger we are in, I wish to offer two of my favorite quotes.

The first quote comes from the president of the division where I once worked. I saw it in a magazine. It needs a bit of back-story first though. We'd just gone through one of the biggest frauds in the history of the stock market (it was before Enron and Worldcom). It was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for a good month. There had been layoffs. Morale was in the toilet. So what was the quote?

We have a fun environment with creativity and fun.

I don't think I have ever laughed so hard. What the heck was "fun" doing in there once, much less twice? Hahaha!

On to the second quote. I'm reminded of it quite often, especially when watching the financial news on TV.

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. - Eric Hoffer

Fun! Creativity and fun! The lack of "fun" is clearly what the president of my division feared most, and for good reason. Dark gallows humor was the only fun we had. I'm reminded of one team walking by my door. They'd just been laid off. One said, "Dead men walking." We all laughed, but nervously.

So, that being said, imagine what I think when I read the following quote.

Excerpt: 'The Innovation Zone'

That's our job and the purpose for this book, to re-innovate and by understanding not just how to innovate products and services but how to innovate innovation itself.

What the heck is innovate doing in there four times, two of which are back to back? It isn't just that sentence though. I'd encourage you to read the entire article. It's not long. It's an innovate, re-innovate, innovating, and innovation extravaganza. By my count those words are mentioned over 50 times! Keep in mind this is just one small excerpt from his book, lol.

Just how messed up are we? It's taking a fun environment with creativity and fun to a whole new level. It's a level I never thought possible.

Don't answer. I already know. We're seriously messed up. Here's one more quote from the article.

We are surrounded by more useless inventions than at any other time in history. Affluence seems measured by the number of things we can accumulate and then drag to the trash bin.

I hear that. We have an innovative environment with creativity and innovation no doubt. If we can simply translate the overwhelming successes of financial innovation into every other aspect of our lives, we'll all be eating cat food from the comfort of our cardboard boxes in no time.