Relation between Creativity, Execution and Innovation

Mark Twain quoted “The man with a new idea is a crank until the ideas succeeds”. An average idea with great execution succeeds better than a great idea with average execution. Successful execution of the idea is innovation.

VijayGovindrajan, Professor at Tuck School of Business,defines innovation as a function of creativity and execution where innovation is equal to creativity multiplied by execution. If one of them is zero, then innovation is zero. This is the most convincing definition I have come across which clarified my doubt about these two words – innovation and creativity. They are very different yet used interchangeably by most of us.

Execution is the framework which includes planning, implementation, reviewing and action. The person executing the idea could be an inventor or a first time entrepreneur but the process remains the same. Yet there are challenges which will give enough opportunities to get discouraged. Execution also requires great patience. For organizations, execution of new ideas is a bigger challenge primarily because of resistance to change and acceptance of new idea by people in the organization.

ITC’s International Business Division conceived one of greatest ideas impacting and enriching the lives of 3.5 million farmers in India. The e-choupal or village internet kiosks give farmers access to a wide range of information which would help them in growing better quality crops to be sold to ITC at the best possible price. The execution of the creative idea eliminated the need for intermediaries which reduced net cost of procurement and eliminated costs in supply chain. The initiative was inundated with several challenges like infrastructure and training the first time internet users but all challenges were overcome due to some top class execution making the innovation a grand success.

The IPod with 5 GB memory was marketed as “1000 songs in your pocket” – that is the Steve Jobs way of execution. I feel the greatest strength of Steve jobs is his simplicity which reflects in his execution style. The lesson learnt here is making the big plan simple to increase its acceptance which enhances quality of execution.