Today's Seth Godin post on innovation, guts, and generosity is Seth Godin at his best. One of the reasons why I like it is that I keep thinking that "innovative" has become too much of a buzzword. It's similar to walking around and telling everybody you're a cool person. If you have to explain it to everyone, then you're probably not cool. At the same time, I also find his generosity angle to be a clever one. Here is Seth's post in its entirety (short and sweet, as usual):
Innovation is guts plus generosity
Guts, because it might not work.And generosity, because guts without seeking to make things better is merely hustle.
The innovator shows up with something she knows might not work (pause for a second, and contrast that with everyone else, who has been trained to show up with a proven, verified, approved, deniable answer that will get them an A on the test).
If failure is not an option, then, most of the time, neither is success.
It’s pretty common for someone to claim that they’re innovative when actually, all they are is popular, profitable or successful. Nothing wrong with that. But it’s not innovative.
Allow generosity to take the lead and you’ll probably discover that it’s easier to find the guts.