Average person has about 50000 thoughts per day, according to an article I came across recently. Even if we assume that less than 0.01% of those ideas are related to things which could make your work/business better or more innovative, there is still about 5 ideas a day. Multiply it across the employee base of an organisation, there are no dearth of ideas.
Hence, would it make sense to hypothise that larger an organisation, greater the potential for transformational ideas? Why then do you see established large organisations stumble when innovations disrupt their market as seen by numerous examples like the Nokia/Blackberry downfall from being the leaders in the mobile space?
I would like to think this is due to the Idea to Execution Gap.
Consider the Strategy- Execution gap which has been long debated and is something lot of organisation realise as a problem area and a major reason for startup failures as well. There are a number of books, articles and even an MIT course on this topic. A few selected articles are listed below:
With idea becoming a bigger currency in the digital economy and the pace at which startups are disrupting industries (as discussed in my previous blog, I feel Idea to Execution Gap will play a much bigger role in the future success of businesses.
Addressing this gap can help organisation be more agile and relevant in the face of competitive forces accelerated by a digital and global world.
Idea Economy
Why are ideas important?
- As discussed before, killer ideas with the right support can disrupt an industry
- Ideas not evaluated sooner can mean the difference between being a Nokia or an Apple
It is important to note that ideas without execution is hallucination. Also for an idea to be termed an innovation, it needs to find a customer willing to pay for it. Hence, the importance of Execution.
I am using a very broad based definition of Execution to mean taking the idea to market - be it
- to internally to improve how you run your business more efficiently or
- to introduce a new product/service to market
- to improve collaboration with your suppliers or partners
and overall to be a leader in your market.
In my next post, we will look how technology can help you address the Idea to Execution Gap.
