Business Competitiveness: the Influence of Innovation, Creativity and Thinking

Today's world is more innovative and progressive than ever before, a testament to the innovation explosion we are currently experiencing is the gross evolution of internet enabled businesses, cloud computing, biotechnology, business ideas, miniaturized computer hardware, GPS technology, space travel and study etc. imaginations and ideas continually flood this plant at a rate that's unimaginably fast, we are currently experiencing what is termed the innovation explosion. Inventors and entrepreneurs all over the world continually breathe life into new ideas, fund new ventures and raise new business models, colonize new markets and satisfy the varied consumer needs.

Today's employees have moved from the once- instruction-based work environment, where the business environment is characterized by people that are handed strict instructions on what to do and how exactly to do it. Today's work place is "thinking based", an environment for the thinker, where people are employed to think up strategies and ideas to improve performance, effectiveness and strategies to meet and drive market demand. Today's employees' mandate is more of "what can you do for us" rather than "this is what we want you to do for us".

The results and success achieved by business is not coincidental but a function of the choices and decisions made by the business on the activities to spend time and/or resources on. In the book "business think" by Marcum D. (2002) "Thinking is the nucleus of business--it drives not only what gets created and launched, but also what lives on. It's the "big bang" that sets everything else in motion. If you want to change your results, you must first change your thinking". It is testament to this thinking rave that businesses now seek to employ thinkers and innovators rather than followers that help implement set policies.

Today's business organizations have strived to create thinking systems that will pioneer new product/service creation and developments. Companies like apple, Google, face book, HP have reaped immense benefits from creating a culture of innovation, considering the various innovative offerings and their ability to continually create and stir market demand. It is imperative that small and medium enterprises leverage the potential of innovative systems to help them make the leap from their present situation to being more competitive.

The question we should all ask is- "do businesses really need innovative thinking or is it just another fictional title created to engage business men and women for the moment", considering the fact that More than 50 percent of all decisions failed; they were quickly abandoned, only partially implemented, or never adopted at all. In the As Henry Ford once said, the raw materials are all there. The creative mind sees possibilities in them or connections that are invisible to less creative minds.

The art of creative thinking and understanding of the principles guiding the thinking and creativity is based on certain practices; these practices will be elaborated further in the continuation series of this article. They are:

Check Your Ego at the Door.

Create Curiosity.

Move Off the Solution.

Get Evidence.

Calculate the Impact.

Explore the Ripple Effect.

Slow Down for Yellow Lights.

Find the Cause.

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