We often speak about innovation, innovative leaders, and how to innovate in a business. However, many people confuse innovation with invention.

While both can play a role in your business, they are very different. Let’s look at their differences and how you can innovate in your business.

Innovation Vs Invention

Invention is creating something that did not exist before. It’s building something new.

Innovation on the other hand is making something that already exists better, by improving it.

Thomas Ford invented the car. Car manufacturers today innovate to improve on the invention of Thomas Ford, making improvements in technology, safety, and fuel consumption.

In business, we rarely need to invent something brand new. Instead, we innovate to make the way we do things better. This could be an innovative approach to managing clients, a new strategy, or improving a software with a new feature. These innovations are a crucial part of your business and will help you to grow.

Negative Innovation

What is negative innovation, and how is it valuable to your company? Negative innovation is the process of learning how not to do things.

In the words of Thomas Edison, “I have not failed, but found 1000 ways to not make a light bulb.”

You need to try and fail, finding the ways that don’t work, so that you can truly innovate in a valuable way.

Create an Innovation Language

If you’re wanting to have more innovation in your business, then you need to have an innovation language. An innovation language is the discussions, hackathons, competitions, and rewards for innovation. It’s the culture you create than encourages and fosters innovation.

If you want to grow your company in the long run, then you need to innovate and create a culture of innovation.

Every company needs to innovate, but most will not invent. We don’t need to create the wheel to survive, but we do need to improve it. Focus on innovation in your team to help you grow over the long term.