Innovation is the sexier of the two. The cool ideas and “why didn’t I think of that?” make it seem easy. But it’s not.
Execution (though hard) is actually the easier of the two. But it’s boring. Tedious rather, and it takes discipline. These are things we didn’t like about school. But execution works. And anyone can do it. It’s also the more important of the two. Innovation without execution is just a nifty pod-cast before you go belly up. Execution without innovation is the kind of company that makes a “Millionaire Next Door“.
That’s why most of my writing is about execution (and also probably why I’m not the hottest blogger around). But today we’ll take a look at innovation.
I’ve not written in a while because I’ve been away at the NAA conference where there was (with two exceptions) ZERO innovation. One was a product I’ll mention below. The other was an innovative presentation (about execution of all things!) given by a couple of fighter pilots who are part of The AfterBurners.
Innovation comes in two flavors. One is the consistent, tiny changes that go unnoticed. They are actually a part of great execution. The other is the mind-bending, out of the box idea that rocks your world. It used to be called paradigm-shifting. Here are two examples of the latter:
Mobile-Shop exhibited for the third year in a row at NAA – but this year, for the first time they production ramped up so you could actually buy their product. [Full disclosure, I own a very tiny piece of the company] Their idea is that a person working with tools is paid to work, not walk around getting the tools they need (or forgot). And that people who work with tools feel better, and work better when they have the best tools to work with. Until now there’s not been a way for companies to provide the best tools to their technicians in a way that makes it easy for the workers to always have everything they need on hand (less walking, more working) and that provides simple accountability.
Their motto is “Changing the way the world works” but I told them it should be “You Know You Want One” because that’s the reaction from everyone who sees a unit. I saw that reaction when I was with them last Monday in NY when they won the Stevie Award for most innovative new product. One woman wanted to buy one for a father’s day gift. More at www.Mobile-Shop.com
Igglo (a Finnish company) provides a way to show interest in buying a home that’s not yet for sale. They’ve photographed every building in Helsinki (more cities to follow) and provided pictures, maps and such for every one – not just those who are on the market. Buyer’s can earmark a street or area you’re interested in and even post offers on line, You can get a message when a property you like comes up for sale. And for property owners – wouldn’t you like to know who want’s your property and how much they’ll pay – even if it’s not on the market?
Then when supply meets demand, Igglo can connect buyer’s and sellers for less than normal real estate commission because the hard work is already done.
More Here.
My point about both these businesses is that the innovation is a whole new way of looking at something – and building a company around it. If you’re like me you feel a combination of excitement (How cool is that!) and remorse (Why can’t I come up with something like that?) when you see this kind of innovation.
Don’t worry – there’s always execution.
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3 Comments
Richard
“Execution without innovation is the kind of company that makes a “Millionaire Next Door“.”
Can you expand on this statement?
Are you referencing how some businesses are highly successful by offering non-innovative products or services i.e. a lawn or cleaning service?
Also, do you think execution without innovation is a good or bad thing?
20 Jun 2006 09:06 am
John Seiffer
In a word – yes.
The Millionare Next Door is a book which described the author’s “hunt” for millionaires – people with net worth between $1 and $10 million (this was before the dot com boom so the numbers might be different now). They described the demographics of such people that they found. Most of them didn’t live in high priced neighborhoods or drive new expensive cars or dress in expensive clothes. They found most people who did that had high incomes but also high debt and low net worth.
They also found a high percentage of such millionaires owned their own businesses and most of those were what I call “boring” companies – contstruction firms, bowling alleys, cement plants.
So my comment was based on the idea that to run those businesses profitably you need good execution.
From a business perspective, execution without any innovation at all is risky in the long term because it lowers the barriers to competition. I suspect that most of the businesses that look boring and non-innovative have in reality made lots of small innovations in the way they do things – maybe not in the products they offer but in things they do when hiring, or managing, or selling or maintaining quality.
20 Jun 2006 10:06 am
Jerry
Hey John,
I just saw this. Vivek forwarded it to me. Get article. Especially the part about that interesting company selling efficiency. Talk with you soon.
28 Sep 2006 12:09 pm
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