Oct 22, 2020
When Innovation meets Dreams
Right from the biggest space missions, that the world has ever witnessed to the culinary skills, that we show off everyday in our kitchens, everything has innovation in it.
Same is the case, when it comes to making your dreams come true, if not the dreams of millions or even an entire generation. Yes, innovation is and has always been a quintessential part of any dream. A dream that aspires to relieve the sufferings of many; A dream that aspires to inspire thousands of generations to come; A dream that you do not see in sleep, but a dream that doesn’t let you sleep. When one is motivated by an illustrious dream, innovation springs in automatically.
It was a ninth August. The whole world turned its head towards Japan, as the Little Boy and Fat Man had already ravaged the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. That Nation, which was said to be obliterated by the monstrous atomic bombs, neither shattered nor succomed to the horrendous event. Instead it rose exponentially bearing ‘implaussible dreams’, as thought then by the rest of the world, except Japan. And today, it is one of the global superpowers, also not failing to prove wrong all those who said, nothing would grow in Hiroshima and Nagasaki for atleast a century from the day of atomic bomb explosion. Thanks to all innovations, the Japanese has brought in all domains, which helped them grow from a state, where any productive enterprise above ground being under the threat of wiped out, to a state wherein Japan is a technological leader on the planet.
It is questionable whether Japan would have innovated the way they did, had they been satisfied with what they had, or had they lacked motivation to innovate, in the first place. Now we can say without an iota of doubt that, the vice versa of the statement made earlier that “Innovation is and has always been a quintessential part of any great dream” is true as well. Hence, motivation or an illustrious dream is the principal and foremost ingredient to innovate.
Picking up on strategy:
But does the motivation alone allows you to innovate is a question to be answered, and the most straightforward answer would be no. This is were most people miss out, in the steps to innovate. That is, the innovation strategy. This is about pondering over the ways in which you can create value from the end result of your innovation. And this has to be dynamic and not static. It needs to change along with the changing times. This naturally brings us to the following question.
Is Innovation a piece of cake only for the Bookworms?
Innovation is not mere acquisition of knowledge. It is beyond that. It comes naturally in a thing, when you are able to perceive that thing along with its ecosystem comprehensively and in entirety like the back of your hand. This point can be reached by anyone and everyone through sheer learning, of course with an open minded attitude.
The dream of Mr. K. Kamaraj, one of the tallest statesmen in Indian chronicles also known as the greatest Chief Minister of all times in the Southern state of TamilNadu, in making education the right of every child, stands as a testimony to this. Because, in addition to doing the needful task of opening innumerable schools in the state of Tamil Nadu, as India was a young independent Nation back then, he splashed over his great dream, some Innovation. And eventually, the Mid-Day meal scheme, which purported to provide free meals to children studying in primary schools, was brought in the picture, introduced throughout the state of Tamil Nadu, and the rest is history. Yes, there was definitely something beyond food in this innovative idea. The strength and attendance of students in schools of Tamil Nadu increased drastically after this move. The more laudable thing was that, the children belonging to marginalised sections of society like the Dalits and female gender were sent to schools in more numbers only beacause of this innovative scheme. This is now adapted by many states in the Nation. Not to mention that, Mr. K. Kamaraj who innovated to eradicate illiteracy was not educated formally in any school, but definitely a learner with an open mind.
Integrate:
Thus, does having a dream and a strategy are enough to innovate, is the next question. The answer lies in the vision that Mr. Lee Kuan Yew had for the great Nation Singapore. After the World War 2 ended, everything in Singapore was in disarray.There were troops in uniform everywhere, there was turmoil everywhere. The entire world viewed Singapore as a crime ridden society filled with black markets and gangsters. Now, it is seen as the Economic capital of the world, being ranked the most open economy and the best in human capital development. All these were made possible by innovating in social and economic reforms, by Integrating the broken people and the Nation itself. They made right use of the abundant tin and rubber they had at the right time, which many African countries have failed to do. And of course, with integration, this innovation took the right shape as intended. Hence the next key to innovate is to integrate.
Lose Fear and Fight till it Happens:
The final and most crucial elements for one to innovate is the Courage to innovate itself and perseverance to make your innovation work, in case it lands in failure the first time. It is the capacity to throw away one’s fear of losing in the course of innovating. Success and failure are contingent. But losing courage to innovate due to this, is not going to take one anywhere, neither failure nor success. If failure knocks the door first, do not give up. This meas not “not giving up till the end”, but “not giving up till you make it happen”. The story of an indigenous tribal group among many others in Africa in having a comparitively very high success rate of Rainmaking while performing the Rain fertility ceremony, has revealed the secret of their tremendous success rate, as not stoppping the ceremony and continuing with the beating of drums, blowing of whistles, singing and so on with the same vigour and intensity till the skies give up and rains. This story tells it all!
How could one forget Sabeer Bhatia and his Hotmail, before proposing a non tested or unprecedented innovative idea to the world. How could one forget J K Rowling and her Harry Potter series of novels before quitting after getting rejected several times for an innovation in their realm.
To sum up, have a motivation that drives you, one that is ethical too, give up on your worst fears of losing, of getting rejected, of being ridiculed and brace yourselves with your strategy, integrate when needed and finally do not give up. These strengthen the roots, Innovation and naturally bloom into your dreams coming true.
