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What No One Else Does …

Writes Mark W. Johnson of Business Week:

Creativity, by itself, is not enough. As I’ve previously written in this space, inventions that aren’t commercialized — no matter how creative — remain inventions, not innovations. To be commercial, an invention needs to matter enough to a customer to be worth paying for. And what matters to most customers is not the invention itself but what job it enables them to do that they couldn’t do, or do well enough, before. The microwave, for example, when it was first introduced, was a terrible oven, but it was fantastic defroster.

Needless to say, the term “commercial” rarely pops up in a non-profit conversation. By definition, the adjective describes items or businesses whose chief purpose is profit. But I could not help noticing that small non-profits, while certainly not commercial enterprises, actually fit the above definition of “innovation done right.” Most local non-profits are founded precisely to offer services to their community that many “couldn’t do, or do well enough, before.”

Unique experiences and services are not a means to an end in our world. They are the end. Bridging a gap or meeting a critical need are not only good practices. They are the practices. Johnson goes on to explain that innovation fails to transcend simple invention when a business does not “divide resources properly between current innovation and future innovation and make sure the inventions really do solve some job that needs to be done.”

And interestingly, most non-profits sprung into existence as just that: problem-solvers. Whether the problem was a dearth of new theater, literacy education, or affordable neighborhood daycare, the resulting non-profit organizations are such smart, cool businesses because “solving” is at their core. It is why they are here.

So what is the take-away from Business Week this week? An emerging non-profit is exciting both because it sheds light on a dire need and creates a way to fill it. And in that sense, it possesses one of the most valuable attributes of any businesses (commercial or otherwise). But as Johnson indicates above, current and future innovation must go hand in hand. Our innovation should continue beyond the crafting of a mission statement: new needs emerge, new solutions can be spun — we can keep thinking and questioning as though we just began.

 

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