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Innovating Together
By Sean Luechtefeld on 01/28/2010 @ 10:00 AM
Today marks the start of our new blog series! In the coming weeks, check back often as we'll be updating frequently!
Why Working Alone Isn't Working
innovation@cfed
“Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.” [Timothy Blixseth, entrepreneur]
As the newest members of the innovation@cfed Team, we’ve been thinking a lot about how innovation comes to fruition. When pondering the concept of innovation, we begin by thinking about the definition of the word. We imagine notions of newness; fresh ideas brought on by active thought. It is an organic process. To an extent, those preconceptions are spot-on. Innovation is fresh and organic. It doesn’t have to be new, though, as some of the clearest innovations at CFED are incremental – modifications to that which already exists to make it better.
One thing that innovation requires universally is collaboration. As children, we are taught that two heads are better than one, yet when it comes to encouraging creativity, we often find ourselves working alone. Creativity, however, requires being around others who bring fresh ideas to the table. Whether it is through the opportunity to bounce ideas off one another or the ability to combine seemingly disparate approaches that coalesce into an exciting innovation, bringing people together truly accelerates the innovation process.
Take the assembly line for example – the product idea begins with one person but is completed faster when there are many others involved in working towards the end result. Bringing constructive innovators together physically and virtually allows them to make the connections necessary to reach the final product in a faster and more comprehensive way. Especially given the quickly-transforming technological landscape, working together allows innovators to tap the resources of people across the hall, across town, across the country and across the globe. Ignoring those resources never made sense – yet all too often we get so consumed in our thought processes that we forget that the resources we need to perfect our ideas are often within arm’s reach.
As we welcome a new decade, we hope that we can also welcome a new way of thinking about generating ideas, one that relies on connecting people as a way to maximize the expertise that they offer. Innovation, it seems, cannot happen with people sitting by themselves. Rather, it requires people to come together to develop ideas that, on their own, might not be refined enough to promote economic growth, but with the help of others, have the potential to change lives.
What is your innovative idea? Share it below and invite input from other readers. You never know how far you might go with a little boost from someone else.
Aimee Chambers is an innovation@cfed Intern and Master’s Student in Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Maryland, College Park. Sean Luechtefeld is Communications Intern for innovation@cfed and Ph.D. Student in Communication at the University of Maryland, College Park.
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