Back in 2008 an article in the Harvard Business Review had the following quote:

“The myth of creative genius is resilient: We believe that great ideas pop fully formed out of brilliant minds, in feats of imagination well beyond the abilities of mere mortals.  But what [innovative teams] accomplish is neither a sudden breakthrough nor the lightning strike of genius; it is the result of hard work augmented by the creative human-centered discovery process and followed by iterative cycles of prototyping, testing, and refinement.”  – Tim Brown, Harvard Business Review Article on Design Thinking

sanding block

All too often we think innovative ideas come from exceptional minds at exceptional times.  But I’ve already mentioned innovation being defined as ideas implemented, and in reality those ideas are usually the result of ordinary people who want to change something for the better.  Through lots of work, testing, and change, they find success, but it generally isn’t an overnight phenomenon.

Most innovations are incremental, not revolutionary.  Think of using 200 grit sandpaper to continually remove rough edges from something, making it smoother and more beautiful.  With each pass you are improving your piece, and the finished product comes from many little adjustments done over time.  This is like innovation, done daily in a practical way, by ordinary people.

“Most innovations are incremental, not revolutionary.”

Think over your past day, or month, or year.  What innovations have occurred in your business or personal life through many  little changes?