A new way of doing something

April 2, 2009

Innovation may refer to incremental, radical, and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. A distinction is typically made between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully. (Wikipedia)

It’s more than just departing from the status quo, and beyond mere experimentation. It’s easy to call to mind breakthrough innovations that have relegated past ideas and practices to obsolescence, as the telephone did to the telegraph and the car did to the horse-and-buggy. We also know that crucial progress also comes from smart improvements applied to existing ideas: adding seat belts to cars has made major crashes survivable, saving tens of thousands of lives. As education entrepreneurs, it’s important that we consider: To what extent are we living up to the expectations we’ve set for ourselves, and how to we challenge ourselves to do better?