When we talk about innovation casually, we are often thinking about cutting-edge technology and perhaps scientific research: AI, blockchain, drones, and so on.
But actually there is another type of innovation that is less talked about and much more relevant to us.
This is because when we create some value by implementing something new, we are innovating, regardless of if the innovation already existed somewhere else.
So I like to distinguish the two types of innovation like this:
1. Inventing something new: This is exciting, newsworthy and the topic of frequent public discussion on social media, but on the other hand it is extremely costly and risky. Most publicly promoted innovations die out, and most companies trying to be innovative in this sense go bankrupt.
2. Implementing best practices: Here we take something that is proven to work in thousands of other companies and bring it into our own company, maybe with an Elite twist. This type of innovation is much less expensive (no R&D costs) and much less risky (we know ahead of time that it works from prior art).
The second one is like owning a stock that gives you a 50% return every year - guaranteed! It's the perfect investment, and I love it when I see us doing these types of innovations!
Here are some examples I've observed from my time here so far:- We started doing monthly closings in the finance department
- We rearranged the office layout to optimize collaboration and free up meeting room space
- We implemented a CRM system for sales to record and track their activity
- We found ways to encourage customers to leave us good Google reviews in customer service
- We scheduled a monthly town hall to share updates with the entire company None of these were radically new ideas, but they were all innovations for Elite that raised the bar for the company. This is smart value creation and it deserves to be recognized. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to all the innovations to come!