Innovation is all about People - Alexandre Janssen

Hello, and let's talk about the human aspect of innovation today. When I watched the TEDx talk, it made so much sense to me that innovation is so much more than ideas and creativity. It is all about the people, as shown clearly in this talk by Alexandre Janssen.

The speaker of the TEDx event I want to talk about is Alexandre Janssen. He is the co-founder of Minkowski, a company focusing on leadership and organization development by offering learning sessions, workshops, and coaching to build leaders and organizations for the future (What we do - Minkowski).

Alexandre begins his talk by highlighting the incredible communication power that modern technology provides to individuals, surpassing what even country leaders had access to just 50 years ago. This shows the rapid pace of technological advancement and its potential for new opportunities.

As an example of this is the evolution of phone technology, showing how it took progressively less time for new innovations to reach half of the population. This trend indicates not only the exponential growth of technology but also the decreasing adoption time for new innovations. CEOs of organizations may say that innovation is important but then struggle with the execution. There seem to be three main obstacles to innovation in organizations: resistance to change, short-term focus, and fear of failure.

Mr. Janssen uses the case of a passionate employee, who transitioned from an accountant to an advocate for checking medical apps for accuracy. This employee, Rob, illustrates how passionate individuals can dive significant change within an organization if they are given the right conditions.

There need to be a few key conditions met in an organization for fostering innovation. Firstly, hire based on passion rather than skills, then create a safe environment that supports and protects passionate, creative individuals. The speaker introduced the idea of implementing an “I messed up” card to encourage employees to take risks and learn from failure. It is up to their leadership to take help these individuals get out and explore and drive change.

Technology is not enough, it is practically worthless, if it is not for the people who are the important first step of change. Organizations need to hire passionate individuals, give them freedom, and embrace a culture that allows for experimentation and learning from failure.

In the end, true innovation is not about ideas, processes, or metrics; it is about finding and empowering the right people, people who believe in a purpose and have a genuine passion for change. What would happen if everyone got such a “I messed up” card? What innovations might arise from such opportunities!

This is the link to the TEDx talk on YouTube:

Why innovation is all about people rather than bright ideas | Alexandre Janssen | TEDxFryslân - YouTube

Watching this video really got me thinking. It is so true: innovation is about the people! This is an important concept to keep in mind, because change happens with people, and if they are not given the opportunity, how will change happen?