Recently I finish a book by Gary Hamel, The Future of Management. I found the book to be interesting, and appreciated the point of view on how modern management is still stuck in the mold developed in the past century and longer by Frederick Winslow Taylor, Adam Smith, etc. That includes functional philosophies of brand management from Procter & Gamble, financial analysis by DuPont, etc. Dr. Hamel convinced me that we continue to perpetuate the old in more ways than we think and yet within the community we operate many of those are appreciated as unique and different.
What is a true innovation? What is true discontinuous breakthrough? Architects with pony tail, Executives in suit, Software programmers with their disheveled appearance, Geeks wearing glasses, Golfers with caps, Truckers with big bellies, Trekies with their funny lingo, Soccer moms driving SUV/minivans, Environmentalists adorning a beard and I can go on and on. All of these individuals appear to be rebels to the normal citizen but within their communities they are conformists to the core, perpetuating the old. How does one define a breakthrough/breakway? This is often the question brands struggle with day in and day out.
Is the answer to ‘differentiation’ a function of the domain, geography or time? Said differently distinguish from the past or distinguish from my peers? Is innovation the philosophy of being something/someone or not being?
