Human at the front and centre of innovation

In 2023, NTT Data’s Innovation Index reported that 96% of executives believe that innovation is key to achieving growth over the next two years. However, the research showed only 21% actually met their innovation goals. Like all things in life, innovation is easier said than done.

Among the critical things teams still tend not to look deep enough into effecting innovation is "people". So much focus is placed on the product—new gadgets, softwares, engines, features etc. Yet, more often than not, the lifespan of these products is short. Having little sustainable competitive advantage, these products fail to provide a return on investment commensurate to the investments put into its development.

If I were to weigh in on this debate of how businesses could better achieve growth, I’d argue that shifting the focus on people and everything surrounding people offers a more sustainable and longer-term market advantage. Of the 3Ps (People, Process, Products), understanding People forms a stronger foundation for innovation.

Albert Einstein said: “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it."

We firstly need to understand what people's problems we are trying to solve. We have to be curious about people’s needs and motivations; carefully discern their problems and aspirations. It might take years to finally learn the root cause of a particular people's problem. But otherwise, we fall into the trap of treating the symptoms, or only part of the root cause and neglecting the whole ecosystem of the problems. We risk putting resources on developing solutions that miss the mark—and thus become short-lived.

Secondly, cultivating and nurturing people for innovation is another challenge. What motivates me, may not resonate with you. Now, scale that up to company level and you’re confronted with a vast spectrum of human needs, behaviours and skills.

After all, innovation is made FOR humans, BY humans. It is important to always remind ourselves: "have we pondered enough questions, and worked deep enough on all the necessary aspects of the "People" element?"