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Creativity
is often met with criticism, even skepticism, when it suggests "I think there's
a better way." Mr. Status Quo chairs most boards and usually has a sizable
voting block around the table. So when a new idea comes up, or a suggestion for
improvement, it's often squelched quickly . . . and never gets past the boardroom
door. I
once received an email that listed some classic examples of great innovations
that met with resistance up front. Here are my favorites: - "This
'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of
communication. The device is inherently of no value to us" (internal memo
at Western Union, 1876).
- "Heavier-than-air
flying machines are impossible" (Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895).
- "Stocks
have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau" (professor of economics,
Yale University, 1920s).
- "I
think there is a world market for maybe five computers" (chairman of IBM,
1943).
- "We
don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out" (recording company
rejecting the Beatles, 1962).
- "But
what is it good for?" (engineer at IBM commenting on the microchip, 1968).
- "There
is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home" (president of an
electronic equipment company, 1977).
- "640
ought to be enough (memory) for anybody' (Bill Gates, 1981).
To
some degree, we all resist change, especially when it doesn't seem to be necessary.
After all, if what we have is "good enough," then why take a risk on
an unproven, untested, who-knows-if-it-will-even-fly idea? Yet the companies or
churches with the greatest impact on people are usually built on new and innovative
approaches. The products that not only beat the competition but redefine the game
are usually outof-the-box. And every leader, including this author, has been shortsighted
at one time or another. One
example for me is bottled water. In 1986, a friend of mine told me his relatives
who lived in the mountains above Santa Cruz, California, were selling their spring
water to a bottling company. This new company was planning to sell water to people-right
alongside sodas. I quipped without hesitation, "That is the dumbest
idea I've heard in years. There is no way people are going to pay good money
to buy what comes out of their faucet for free." Fast-forward to 2004. Dale
begins his most recent vacation by going into a store and purchasing an entire
case — 36 bottles of water for his family. Someone saw a need, took a risk,
and an entire industry was born. I've always heard the quickest way to get rich
is to invent a "better mousetrap," but I never dreamed someone would
come up with "better water." I thought tap water was good enough. "Good
enough" is always the enemy of innovation. How
many times have you rushed through a project and, for whatever reason, stopped
and told yourself, That's good enough, and then left it at that? You knew
you could do better, but for lack of time, resources, or motivation, you decided
to settle for good instead of better, or better yet — best. In
Luke 5:37-39, Jesus raised this "good enough" issue when He confronted
the religious establishment of His day head-on in a parable about wine and wineskins: No
one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins
and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be
put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new;
or he says, "The old is good enough."
Jesus
wasn't talking only about the nature of the first-century religious establishment.
He was also addressing the very nature of mankind, people like you and me. Our
tendency is to say, "If it's good enough, then I'm satisfied. If I like what
is, don't bother me with what could be." Once we adopt this attitude,
we take that which is merely good and quickly stamp it "good enough."
Then we say, "Let's go home!" In
his best-selling analysis of the good-to-great corporate success stories, researcher
Jim Collins introduced the problem of "good enough" in this way: We
don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have
great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain
great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.
The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast
majority become quite good — and that is their main problem.... That good
is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem.4
So
you see, the problem of "good enough" is not just an organizational
problem faced by churches and corporations ... it is a "human problem."
It affects and infects every venture attempted by human beings. The research of
Jim Collins and the ancient wisdom of Jesus Christ agree: Good enough is the enemy
of great. This
means the reason there aren't more great churches or great ministries is because
there are many good ones. The reason there aren't more great schools and universities
is because there's an ample supply of good ones. And at least one reason there
aren't more great leaders is because, by the world's standard, good is "good
enough." Now
let's be clear on one point: Jesus wasn't knocking the old wine. He wasn't saying
that all things old are bad or irrelevant. The problem was not the wine, but the
wineskins, which were too brittle to handle new wine. New wine is alive ... fermenting,
expanding, and forcing the wineskin to change its shape. One of the deadliest
creativity-killers faced by businesses and churches alike is "calcified leadership"
— leaders who are rigid, unbending, and inflexible. These leaders are guardians
of the status quo. They care more about maintaining corporate traditions and methods
than moving the mission forward. The
"Hardening Factors" What
is the cause of "old wineskins disease"? Status quo leaders, like the
religious establishment who frustrated Jesus, have too little compassion
and too much contentment. That's a lethal combination that can bring about
mission paralysis and the eventual death of any church or organization. When the
leaders become content, then no matter how good the organization is, it has entered
the early stages of trouble. And when the company stops caring and loses its compassion
for the people it serves, it is headed downward. From there it is just a matter
of time before progress grinds to a halt. Organizational death is just around
the corner. When
an organization is new, everything is fluid and flexible. Change is the norm.
Over time, however, as a company or church adopts more and more policies, procedures,
and programs, people start saying, "That's not the way we do it; this is
who we are; this is our product; this is how we serve the customer." And
eventually, your structures become rigid. Flexible movements, once creative and
adaptive, turn into monuments chiseled by past successes. If
any organization is going to stay fresh and alive, then it must learn how to remain
soft and flexible like a new wineskin. It's time for an infusion of innovation
... the power of creativity. In today's world, innovation is not just for
the entrepreneur, it's for everyone who wants to survive. The future belongs to
the leader or organization that learns the art of flexing their forms without
forgetting their core values. If
It Ain't Broke... In
the book If It Ain't Broke ... Break It!, authors Robert Kriegel and Louis
Patler tell us that the time to change is when you don't have to. The time to
be innovative is when you're on the crest of the wave, not when you're in the
trough. I found out about Kriegel and Patler's book from one of my most creative
mentors, Dr. Howard Hendricks, the founder of the Center for Christian Leadership
in Dallas, Texas. Kriegel and Patler write, In
the past, change occurred incrementally, at a slower pace. We had the luxury of
making long-range projections .... But today, the rate of change is accelerating
exponentially, shifting so fast it is tough to make even short-term predictions
accurately.5
John
Young, the chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard, once admitted, "We've become
the victims of our own success."6 Many of the businesses
and churches in America have reached a plateau or are in a state of decline for
this reason. Every organization, at one point in its history, was growing and
successful. The fact is, success is always the first step toward failure. When
you think you've reached the top of the hill, you may very well be looking at
a descent just ahead. Why? Success tends to shut down our creative juices and
bring our innovation to a halt because most of us still follow the "old wineskin"
wisdom that says, "If it isn't broken, don't fix it." Instead,
as the title of Kriegel and Patler's book says, "If it ain't broke ... break
it!" By that I don't mean destroy everything now! That's not creative innovation,
that's self-destruction. Rather, the real goal for twenty-first-century leaders
should be... To
foster a culture of innovation
that
encourages and rewards creativity
even when everything seems to be just fine. Maybe
you don't need to "break it," but you better at least "break it
down," look it over, and then put it back together ... continually! Keep
it flexible rather than fixed, always looking for ways to improve your product
or better serve your people. Innovation:
Not just for the Sick and Dying Ongoing
innovation is crucial because the world is always changing. Shortly after taking
on my current pastorate, I faced this reality head on. I was following in the
footsteps of one of my own heroes, a nationally known and respected leader, Charles
Swindoll. Pastor Chuck and his staff had done a great job of growing a strong,
healthy church. Yet the church leadership, and I, knew that some changes were
needed. There was a new generation of people on the horizon. The church was healthy,
but aging. It was cutting-edge in many of its ministries, but there were also
real needs that called for change. So I gave a message one evening entitled, "Why
Healthy Churches Need Change." The essence of my message was that even healthy
churches need innovation because... - our
world is constantly changing
- our
mission is yet to be accomplished
- our
people are constantly changing
- every
new generation is a new challenge
- change
is easier when you are healthy, not unhealthy
- Scripture
gives us our functions, but not our forms
- flexibility
should be the norm if we value people over programs
- creativity
should always flow from children of the Creator
- the
church is a body, a living organism, and a body must change to grow
- every
church or ministry has a natural life cycle and will eventually die unless it
is "reborn" from within
Every
one of those facts of life applies to the business world as well. Every business
is ultimately a people business, and people are always changing. In addition,
we live and breath in an atmosphere of perpetual change. And as time goes on,
this change is accelerating exponentially. Therefore,
the need for innovation can no longer be ignored by anyone hoping to stay in business
for the long haul. Yes, leaders have always needed to innovate, but the value
of innovation has grown dramatically in the twenty-first century. Innovation
Is Hard Work, But It's Worth It! Creativity
does not come naturally. New ideas, solutions, and approaches to problem-solving
require times of solitude and reflection. In short, you need time to think. Margaret
Wheatley, who is an author and a consultant in the field of strategic planning,
said it well: "Innovation requires thinking and thinking requires time.8 The
fact that we as leaders need to take time to be creative is affirmed by the fact
that it takes more time and energy to solve problems than to create them. So,
if we want to get better at anything, it's going to take some time and effort.
Becoming more innovative and maximizing your creativity requires the best of you.
That's why you need to set aside time to think, reflect, contemplate, and pray.
After all, if God is the ultimate Creator, wouldn't it be a good idea to consult
Him when you need a bit of creative genius? Attempting to solve problems on the
run with your cell phone ringing and the computer dinging to signal that you have
mail isn't going to get you where you want to go. You must protect some time to
think — time during which you won't be interrupted. Only then will innovation
and the power of creativity come to life. ___________________ Excerpted
from Less Is More Leadership by H. Dale Burke, ©2004. Reprinted by
permission of Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR. Click
here to learn more about this and other resourses. ___________________ 4.
Jim Collins, Good to Great (New York: HarperBusiness, 2001), pp. 1, 16.
5.
Kriegal and Patler, If It Ain't Broke...Break It!, p. xvi.
6. From a
speech to the American Electronics Association on September 28, 1988; as cited
by Kriegel and Patler in If It Ain't Broke...Break It!, p. 112.
8.
Margeret Wheatley, as stated at the Innovation Network Conference in Minneapolis
on September 22, 2002; as cited onthe Leadership Network website at www.leadnet.org/allthingsIn/archive_template.asp?archive_id=848db=explorer _______________ H.
Dale Burke is senior pastor of First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton and
is founder of Dale Burke Leadership. |
