Innovation is not reinventing the wheel. Innovation is fixing a spoke, changing the tread or testing a new material. Innovation is not new in its components—the novelty of innovation is in its configuration and delivery.
All too often, we spend our time searching for silver bullets in our jobs, our day-to-day lives and even our personal relationships. We’re geared to look for quick fixes and hacks, but this method often leaves us in the same position we were in before, discouraged at our lack of profound discovery.
When we shift our perspective to addressing the components of a system and not the entire system itself, we find that massive change can come from subtle shifts, which are often much easier and faster to implement.
Thinking to past experiences, how many projects have we given up on in favour of a new one just because we couldn’t get everything to click together? What if success in each circumstance had been only a few pieces away? When we look for silver bullets, we overlook the simple swaps that sit right under our noses, if only we had the perspective to step back, look around and try a new piece.
Don’t toss the tire when a new spoke will do.