Innovation a spikey story…

Innovation, its THAT word that’s being thrown around a lot at the moment. Mainly like flipping a switch and saying “OK … the whole organisation BE INNOVATIVE NOW!’ as if it’s that easy, and like some folks in that org are maybe not doing it already or are trying within a culture that kills it…

I will save culture for another day…

Today I want to talk about the idea that innovation is this ‘BIG thing’, the lone innovator emerges sweating from their cave and shouts “Bloody hell Brian I invented skubberdinkydo, its never been seen before, or even existed, no one knew they needed it… till now AND it will change the world!”

The thing is it often isn’t about that one massive, eureka moment; it’s more like an intricate dance within the “adjacent possible,” as Steven Johnson puts it. It’s about exploring the edges of what exists and tinkering there, it’s not all built off one idea from one person, it’s more about lifting your head up to see all the dots and starting to join them. Gutenberg and his team, yes team!… he apparently had investors and team mates, which sounds all pretty modern, but isn’t. Gutenberg created the printing press after seeing a wine press and adapting it into what we now see as a printing press, and that printing press idea revolutionised the world, it’s often about building on the efforts of others and recognising that. Get that ego back in check, but bring the confidence to collaborate and see the beauty of the existing ideas around you.

Story time, I remember at Hyper Island Jakob Weiderberg came to talk about innovation and I loved that he shared the story of Volvo creating a modern seatbelt and gifting it to the world….. seat belts is a perfect case study in how innovation evolves, how resistance rears its head and why collaboration and socialisation are crucial to turning great ideas into reality.

The three point seat belt, it’s ubiquitous, if you’ve been in a car, you will know it and I am betting the majority reading this have been in a car…. Well it did not miraculously appear from of thin air. As mentioned it was polished into reality at Volvo by engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959. This wasn’t just a stroke of genius from one person, Volvo had committed to automotive safety and this fed into it. The brilliance of Bohlin’s design was its simplicity, it combined a lap belt with the diagonal strap and that passenger/driver was in a safety burrito in their tin can of death. This was ace they thought, it will save lives, surely folks will love this! Volvo made the patent open to other manufacturers….. BUT the folks did not love this….

Let’s face it most of us human’s are funny creatures. Even when faced with something designed to protect us, we often resist. In America, the idea of mandatory seat belts was met with fiery opposition. The response was mainly HOW DARE THEY??? It was seen as a violation of personal freedoms, an affront to rugged individualism. I mentioned socialisation of innovation earlier, so let’s dive in because this is where it becomes critical. It’s not enough to build something great; you have to bring people along with you…..

Brief interlude to mention the wild cards, like the infamous “Tullock spike.” Economist Gordon Tullock once suggested replacing steering wheels with a giant metal spike, pointing at the driver, to encourage safer driving. While obviously impractical and lets face it frikking terrifying, it highlighted how human behaviour often prioritises convenience or comfort over safety. Sometimes, it takes an extreme thought experiment to reframe a problem. Yes people really considered this as a better option to the constraints of a seatbelt!!!

In America that was Sam Carney, a paediatrician with a knack for advocacy. He helped lobby the governor of Wisconsin to promote seat belt legislation. Through persistent effort, storytelling, and aligning the cause with public health rather than control, Carney’s work played a key role in overcoming resistance. This is where we see the collaborative nature of innovation, it’s not just about the user researchers, designers and devs, its those clever advocates, communicators, and policymakers who ensure new ideas take root, flower and thrive.

Seatbelts… theres loads more to this than the few bits I have pulled out, BUT I wanted to show innovation doesn’t happen in isolation, overnight or in great leaps. It’s evolutionary, Steven Johnson calls it a slow hunch, its collaborative, and beautifully, deeply human. It’s about designing within what’s possible and then creating the conditions for people to embrace the change. And sometimes, that’s the hardest part of all.

Steven Jonson Where Good Ideas come from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/182272/where-good-ideas-come-from-by-johnson-steven/9780141033402

Seatbelt history
https://rutherfordtnhistory.org/dr-seat-belt-oral-history-april-20-2004/

Gutenberg Press
https://www.bloomingtonarts.org/blog/johannes-gutenberg-and-a-grape-press

Revisionist History
https://www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/revisionist-history-seat-belts-resistance-to-public-health-measures/