Is ambition the mother of innovation?
If necessity is the mother of invention can we say that ambition is the mother of innovation? The most famous inventions that our society witnessed appeared as solutions for specific problems. The train appeared when the chariots were no longer suitable for covering long distance travels. The telephone was developed as soon as people started living scattered across the country. When the steam engine was no longer able to sustain the growing need for energy man came up the explosion engine based on fossil fuels.
Now, what problem did the iPod solve, or was it fruit of Apple’s ambition to increase its profits, its market share and the total return to shareholders? The Nintendo Wii is arguably the most innovative video game console of the last decade, yet one can not help but ask: what kind of problem does it solve? Can we say that invention is connected to needs while innovation is connected to wants?
The legion of iPod fanatics certainly did not need the device, but they wanted it. They wanted a portable, user-friendly MP3 player packed with a sleek design. Apple identified such a desire and addressed it awesomely.
The first time I wrote this post I used the word greed instead of ambition. A couple of days later I was thinking about the fact that greed carries a negative feeling with it, like if a company was only concerned with money. Ambition is a more vast word, when Steve Jobs idealized the iPod he was not pursuing money exclusively but also power, recognition and the like.
Do you think we can say that ambition is the mother of innovation?
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What “problem” does the Wii solve? I’ll bite - it solves the problem of providing a video game platform that can interest, and engage participation by, all members of a family. Even those members who have previously no interesting in, or are hostile to, gaming.
There you go. We’ve been playing it more or less constantly since it arrived - plus family, friends and neighbours. Youngest player: 6. Eldest: 87. Number of people who didn’t like it: 0. I’ve reviewed it in some detail on my own blog.
I would say that recognition is definitely related to innovation. We all like building something cool and getting the credit for it explicitly by other people. It wouldn’t be nearly as good if no-one recognized the inventor’s brilliance.
The Open Source community and it members are partially build on our basic need for recognition. For them, a pat in the back and a few good words in a blog or newsletter is as good (or better) than money.
But innovation is not a black-and-white topic, so I’m sure that other readers will come up with other innovation motivators.
Problems and needs are relative. What is a problem or need to one person may not be the same for another. For example - maybe from my perspective there are many people that probably don’t ‘need’ a cell phone, but they want and therefore often ‘have’ one. Maybe its about taking our own bias out of the picture or being able to think about your customers needs from their perspective and not yours as the innovator. By not overlaying your values onto your customer, it allows you to think about what they honestly percieve to be problems. Maybe its ‘perception is the mother of innovation’?
John, I agree with you to a certain extent, but I am not sure whether the fact that some member of a family are not interested in gaming is a problem or not. Good review on the Wii anyway!
Peter, recognition is a valid motivator, but it could be placed inside the bigger word ambition, do you agree?
Kevin, different perceptions do play a role in identifying what are needs and what are problems, I am not sure if such perceptions could be the essence of the innovative process, though.
Yes, of course, one can be ambitious to be recognized, another to make money, and so on.
Solving problems, on the other hand, and pure curiosity are less related to ambition but I still find them strong motivators. I suppose people can come up with innovative ideas as a response to a problem (”I want to make A possible”), or as a response to an “inner” predisposition (”I wonder what will happen if I mix substance A with substance B”).
Innovation is a complex thing, that’s for sure.
[…] Is Ambition the Mother of Innovation? If necessity is the mother of invention can we say that ambition is the mother of innovation? The most famous inventions that our society witnessed appeared as solutions for specific problems. The train appeared when the chariots were no longer suitable for covering long distance travels. The telephone was developed as soon as people started living scattered across the country… […]
but CONSIDER THE PERSPECTIVE
for example: at the time the train appeared, no doubt there were many who said: “we don’t need that”.. horse and buggies are just fine. That attitude was certainly present at the introduction of the automobile, to which many people took offense as dangerous or whatever…. in some places the auto was banned.
so… the importance, or not, of ipods, wii will probably only become apparent after some time has passed and “the place in history” of such devices becomes apparent
however, myself, I wonder how it is that so much energy, investment, etc. goes into producing “entertainment” while meanwhile a significant proportion of humans on earth do not have clean water, adequate housing or sanitation or food… and all over the place there is war…
something would appear to be perpetually screwed-up with the human attitude…. for example: why is it that a primary focus of entertainment devices is: virtual war/combat games?
the innovation that is really needed, apparently, is A NEW HUMAN MENTALITY that seeks peace, not war… that seeks enough for all, rather than way too much for a few