Since the outcome is what determines whether an innovation is effective, chances are high that small businesses stumble upon it rather than create through an organized effort
You must have heard this story. In 1967 erstwhile USSR Olympian athelete (won silver and gold in high jump), Valery Brumel’s career came
to a grinding halt when he badly hurt his right leg in a motorcycle accident. The handsome athlete was frustrated as his recovery wasn’t in sight even after several surgeries. He then heard of Prof. Ilizarov who practiced surgery in a remote town in Serbia. Dr. Ilizarov fixed his leg and helped him get back on the track. It took Valery’s return to competitive sports, to get Dr. Ilizarov’s amazing feats in medicine come to light. And soon enough it gave way to the birth of the Prof. Ilizarov Scientific Center. So, what did Prof Ilizarov have up his sleeve that other doctors of the mighty Soviet empire didn’t? Let’s take a look.
Prof. Ilizarov was a medical doctor who graduated in 1944 behind the iron curtain of Soviet Russia. He was sent to the war torn town of Kurgan in Northern Siberia, without being adequately trained or equipped. During his work, he came across many soldiers who had broken limbs of unequal length, non uniting limbs, whom he had to attend to. So he resorted to solve the problem by drawing an analogy between a bicycle wheel and a human limb.
For Prof. Ilizarov, the bones were like the axis of the bicycle and the wheel and tyre were like flesh and skin. However bizarre it may sound, his concept gave birth to several external fixation devices, which were very successfully used to treat soldiers' broken bones. His unique technique of lengthening shortened bones was also revered.
To increase the length of a bone, he would break a bone across the middle and keep the broken pieces apart by a certain distance. He would then use his external fixation device to adjust the distance between the bone pieces to desired length. The gap was then allowed to heal naturally.
Prof. Ilizaraov probably was a born genius, whose thought process was not restricted to organized surgical training. He took the liberty to think out of the box, in a specialty like medicine, where adhering to said protocols is a must. This could happen to anyone running a business in which (s)he is not formally trained. You would probably find the author of this essay, attempting to write on a subject like ‘innovation’ without knowing the jargons or the conventional nuances of the subject, taking an unusual route to explain innovation because he is not specifically trained in the subject.
It is fascinating to hear about the elaborate methods, techniques and organized attempts at innovation carried out by large corporates. It is, after all, everyone’s dream to work in a unit, which gives scope for creative thinking. In hindsight, I wonder whether a process-driven approach to be innovative tend to run dry in the medium to long term and eventually lose their sheen. Unfortunately the human mind is wired to get bored of monotony and anticipated result. In fact, out of eight primary feelings of the mind, only two are benevolent, one of them being "pleasant surprise". Since the outcome is what determines whether an innovation is effective or not, chances are high that small businesses stumble upon it rather than organized effort in a big business.
The two subjects of interest to discuss are process of innovative behaviors in small organizations and individuals with innovation wired. By and large, small entrepreneurs, though being ambitious, will have to be contended with mundane day to day operations. In the absence of mammoth financial backings none would dare to take the risk of total recall on existing processes. In all probability the urge for innovative strategy at the start up period is more likely to occur than during the consolidation period. Having said that, none would deny the inclination to look for innovations, when the business is under pressure. "Kuch alag karna padega" is one of the most common sentences on the corridors of intense competition.
After a recent lecture on why innovation is important and how co-operation by one and all in implementing the new process is the key, one of the participants asked, "What is the difference between innovation and a new idea?" Dumbstruck for a moment though, the presenter recovered well to explain, "Innovation is the badge given to a successful idea.’ For reasons unknown, the acceptance of the terminology, "idea" has been far more than the word "innovation".
It is a must for all companies to be watchful of changing dynamics and trends in the market. It is unlikely that one would survive without constantly innovating or borrowing innovations. Especially in a country like India where the market segmentation according to paying ability is extremely diverse. If an innovator wants to reach out, he has to constantly come up with new ideas. I think small local companies, who understand the pulse of the population do much better than an outsider.
In a running business a watchful eye and being data centric can take you miles ahead in innovation. Especially in fields like consumer goods, pharmaceutics etc., which rely on human psyche. Small changes in presentation can make huge difference in sales. As innovation can be attributed to an idea put to action which has created change, such small carefully recorded incidents can be the subject matter for greater application. A thoughtful inquisitive interaction with events at grass root level prove more productive for small firms than programmed efforts.
The crux of the matter about innovations is the outcome. Innovations can be many but successful innovations are usually a handful. The market response is highly unpredictable for anything new. For an analogy, if we put two of the greatest music directors of bollywood along with one best lyricist and two acclaimed singers in a room and asked them to create a track which would definitely win the national award for the year, what would be the outcome? The resulting outcome may impress the public but still may not impress the jury! I presume an innovative process has similar risk for implementation within the organization and larger response from the market.
Are there born innovators? Going by number of patents held by various people it seems so. But the debatable issue again is the outcome of these patents. Patent means nothing for market success. Experts like Edward de Bono argue that we can instill creative thinking in every mind. It is as good as stating that 10,000 hours of practice can turn anybody from being a layman to a master in any field.
We know that getting up at five in the morning is the best thing to do first, but how do you prevent me from pressing that snooze button? There are talented, intelligent and bold individuals who dare to make changes, who dare to challenge and who dare to take risk. But for them, world wouldn’t have been what it is today. Let’s not forget that that most of the inventions have come out
of small labs and small organizations. Though financial institutions and business structures have evolved, if one dares to invent, one can succeed.
Dr Hrishikesh Damle
Dr. Hrishikesh Damle is a first generation entrepreneur. He is CEO of Atrimed, an ayurvedic pharmaceutical company.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and do not represent those of the magazine.
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