Wellington
There's no connect between football, as in soccer, and innovation - right?
Wrong, according to Innovationfixer (and my apologies for not being able to give an actualname).
The writer's passionate about sport, particularly football, and loves the use of sportinganalogies and aphorisms business. The original article is
Heck, even non-basketball players know what "it’s a slam dunk" means.
He (I'm presuming it’s a he) poses and answers the question of why innovation is like football,and it’s a pretty good analogy. Even non-sports people will probably be aware of what he's talkingabout.
1.There is a big role to play for disruptive innovation. Real Madrid in the 1950s, Brazil in1970, the Johan Cruyff turn and Dutch 'total football', the current Barcelona team. All thesechanged the way the game was played, and in most cases won big trophies. Apple and the iPod, mobilephones, the internet, numerous pharmaceuticals - all of these have disrupted and created markets andare famous in their own right
2.However most goals are scored and most games are won with simple, well-practiced andinstinctive play. In other word, most business growth comes from incremental innovation, lookingafter the core business
3.It's a team game. Innovation is a contact sport that is driven by people who work welltogether. In companies where innovation is successful, there is strong leadership, talented peopleintensive training, no complacency and a laser-like focus on results. It's the same with soccer. Theattention may often be on the big names like Steve Jobs and Lionel Messi, but they are nothingwithout their teams
4.The best teams are highly organised but flexible. They play to a system, but not a rigid onethat stifles individual creativity and initiative. They put people in the right positions. Theytolerate the right kind of failure. They know their competition and their market place
5.Finally, there's a chance for everybody, it's not a guaranteed outcome. Get it right on theday -or in the market place, and you can win
He believes we can learn a lot about innovation by looking at analogous situations, and sport,particularly soccer, is a great place to start.
He leaves with a quote by French writer and philosopher Albert Camus - "all that I knowsurely about morality and the obligations of man, I owe to football."
If Camus can derive analogies about morality from soccer, the writer reckons he's comfortableusing it for innovation.
Perhaps we could get him to look at the All Blacks.
Innovative sure, just can't hold it all together to do it at the World Cup!