Remembering Marseille, France
It was only a month ago that the Bentley MBA team was basking in the sun of the southern France coast. Field experiences are a regular part of the Bentley MBA, and our final experience to France was by far the best of all of them. A partnership between Bentley University and Kedge Business School meant that the Bentley MBA crew had the opportunity to receive instruction from and collaborate with French professors. Prof. Pierpaolo Andriani is an Associate Professor in Complexity and Innovation Studies at Kedge and we had a mini-course titled "Eco-Systemic Innovation" with him. There were four words he used in his presentation to help explain innovation.
"Serendipity"
Sometimes innovation is about being at the right place at the right time. As an entrepreneur, its your job to surround yourself with opportunities to ask questions and to inquire about the world. Asking questions only helps you to practice asking questions more often and more questions leads one to having more problems to consider solving. Serendipity happens when divergent thinking converges into rapid insight to solve a problem - the "aha" moment. As an entrepreneur, one must cherish these moments.
"Bricolage"
In French, the word "Bricolage" means to "tinker" - or to create a work from things that happen to available. Great innovators have a pattern of this behavior - taking what is at their hands to make build something great. Quoting Prof. Andy Aylesworth from the BMBA Innovation Theme: "limited resources are an opportunity to be creative." I remember "tinkering" at my Dad's workbench as a young kid - I wasn't doing too much but I do remember coming up with creative ideas! Tinkering isn't is bad thing.
"Socio Technical Systems"
“Any sociotechnical system, ancient or modern, primitive or industrialized, stems from the efforts of system builders who attempt to create a network capable of resisting dissociation.” - Pfaffenberger. Modern innovators think about how systems deeply integrate with the world around them. Consider one of Google's great philosophies - they look for business opportunities where people interact with something daily - a computer, email, video conferencing, a car, a thermostat, etc. Great innovations of today have deep roots in every day systems.
"Platform"
We are all seeking the beloved "platform play" - a situation when your product or service becomes the sticky glue that others build upon. The feature set is so attractive, the price is so right, that others build upon your creation. Then, switching costs are high, users and customers are embedded, and barriers to your competitors are erected. The words are bit disjointed but they are very much related in today's world of modern innovation. Someone (I forget who) once told me that all the "cool stuff" of the last 100 years has already been invented so don't bother trying to come up with anything that's a complete breakthrough as it will simply take too long. Instead, consider that modern innovation comes from the recombination of old ideas and modern technology to create game changing products for consumers and businesses. Prof. Andriani's four carefully selected words remind me, that as an entrepreneur, its up to me to do just that - engage in bricolage, seeking serendipity, for that next platform which becomes a socio technical system.