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This quote, from Gabor George Burt’s piece Why the Best Innovations Are About Relevance, Not Invention is the kind of statement to make blood run cold. Promising the earth and underplaying the difficult, time-consuming reality of innovation work is more than unhelpful. There’s no such thing as an “innovation shortcut” and promising one is unrealistic. Burt does have a point, however. There is a real need for executives to be smart about what’s around them–and not to attempt to reinvent the wheel unnecessarily. As Bill Buxton explained in his theory of the Long Nose of Innovation, “Any technology that is going to have significant impact over the next 10 years is already at least 10 years old.” There’s no way to bypass the need for hard work, good timing and good fortune that all true innovation shares, but the reminder to look around and be open to potential opportunities lurking among the here and now is well taken.

(Story via Erik Kiaer.)

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