Essentials of Innovation

A vital prerequisite for innovation is discovery - making things known or visible.

Discovering profitable and scalable ideas is the goal of the Discovery Cycle.

ORCA summarizes the four stages of the Discovery Cycle:

1) Observation

2) Reflection

3) Conversation

4) Analysis

Investigate anomalies, paradoxes, peripheral developments, and direct experiences to determine how the world is changing.

This stage is best approached by zooming in and out, using a muse, suspending judgment, slowing down, identifying what's missing, and restructuring data to simplify patterns.

Innovation is driven by people, so it is best to use contrasting views, set an agenda, frame the issues, and generate hypotheses at this stage.

During the final stage of the Discovery Cycle, systematic evidence is gathered, data are categorized, naming is assigned, data analysis is completed, and hypotheses are proposed.

Innovation is difficult for well-established companies.

Innovation is a complex, enterprise-wide undertaking that necessitates a set of cross-cutting techniques and procedures to structure, coordinate and promote it.

There is no proven formula for success, but if businesses internalize and apply these essentials, they will increase the probability that they might rekindle the flame of innovation.