Learning Vs Innovating - don't learn about innovating the hard way

By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.

Learning = know what the next step is (destination) and known path to next step (path to destination)

• This is what the vast majority of secondary and tertiary education is.

Innovating = do not know what the next step is or path to the destination is

• You are doing something you have never done before without a 'teacher' to show you the destination and path to destination.

• It might well be that no one has ever done what you are attempting to do before.

One sentence summary: your expectations for Learning should not be the same as they are for Innovating

• I find that often people don't differentiate between Learning and Innovating and have the same expectations. Unrealistically high expectations = unhappiness.

Graphical form of expectations:

• Innovating expectations

• For Innovating you don't know the destination or path there so most times your first solution doesn't move the game forward.

• Learning expectations

• Learning you know the destination and path there, so if you don't make progress on V1 something is off.

IMO Innovating with a purpose = one of the best things I know of

IMO Learning = boring (ok that is a bit of an over exaggeration)

Jingle: You need to learn that Innovating != Learning. Don't be innovative and make the mistake of thinking Learning = Innovating.