By Debbie Gregory.

Everyone has a different idea what the word innovation truly means when it comes to business.  To some it is inventing something that never existed before.  To others, it is an evolution or upgrade to existing products or services.  Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.

In business, innovation often results when ideas are applied by the company in order to further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers.  There are some innovation myths that actually hurt progress more than they help.

The Top 5 Innovation Myths that can Hurt Your Business:  

If You Build It, They Will Come:

Regardless of what the innovation, it simply will not sell itself. Sitting around waiting for customers to flock to you, without doing anything else, will kill even the best business ideas. Customers have no clue how amazing your product or service is unless they are told how amazing it is. This means that a business owner must invest in building the company’s brand, its marketing, and its following.

Shooting For The Moon:

In general, reaching too far too fast can create a whole plethora of problems. Though there are some projects out there that really went for the moon, such as like Apple’s iPhone or Google’s search engine,most projects that are too ambitious will ultimately fail. It is best to take a more conservative approach and focus on ambitious that are ultimately achievable projects.

Allowing Customers to Drive Your Innovation:

Listening closely to your customers and implementing improvements based on their feedback can dramatically help your business grow.  With this said, do not rely on customers to create new innovations. Customers generally don’t bother to try imagining a different future or new improved products.   They simply want a good quality product at a good price.

Relying on Your Team for Innovations:

Regardless of your industry, your vision MUST come from the top. It doesn’t matter how smart or capable your designers, developers, and engineers are, they need to be led by those in charge. The company’s leaders, the C-level people in the organization, need to empower their team with visions of what is to come. Your team is there to support your dream, not the other way around.

Innovation Requires Expensive Tech:

Simple solutions are often the best ways to solve complex problems. You should be able to summarize what you would like to solve in a sentence or two.  Then you need to consider the easiest and most cost-effective method to achieve it. If the solution involves fancy tech, great. Just remember that your innovation needs to be accessible in order to be profitable. Keeping it simple makes a great deal of sense.

Innovation isn’t easy but if you believe these myths it will be a whole lot harder!