True Innovation is Revolutionary

March 5, 2025

True innovation is revolutionary. It takes courage to break with the comfort of established positions and reach for the promise of the unknown and the unexplored. When we speak about the "culture of innovation," we must go beyond the buzzwords and corporate slogans. We must understand that real innovation is impossible without the acceptance of the risk of failure.

In today's corporate environments, much as in public sector organizations, the risk of failure is tantamount to career suicide. It's a culture of fear.

This is why most real innovation happens outside of these bureaucratic regimes in startups, incubators, and accelerators. Smart companies carve out innovation spaces to foster the climate, environment, and culture conducive to unconstrained creativity and trial-and-error exploration rarely found elsewhere in the larger corporate organizations. Others partner extensively with the startup community, inviting innovation from outside their orgs to help drive forward progress internally.

No matter how you do it, you can't stand still and rest on your laurels. In the corporate quarterly results-driven world, it can be hard to embrace innovation at the risk of abandoning the sure thing - and the sure profits that come with it. But at some point one reaches a position where the foundation you've built turns into a concrete anchor pulling you down and keeping you in place, while others leap ahead.

The latest iPhone release invites a question: Has Apple transcended its identity as a technology company, leaning fully into the idea of Apple as a brand and a status symbol, much like Nike?

As Simon Sinek pointed out in his seminal "Start with Why" TEDx talk all those years ago, Apple had strategically positioned itself as an aspirational lifestyle brand that "just happened to make great computers." Has Apple leaned too far into the branding, taking the technology aspect for granted?

Samsung mobile technology has outpaced Apple for years. Yet, Apple's strong brand loyalty and status have managed to fill the innovation gap - until now. As more consumers become aware of the stagnation and the "reskin-release-rinse-repeat" model seemingly driving the latest iPhone technology progress (or lack thereof), status alone won't be enough.

The saving grace for Apple may be its sustainably strong aspirational brand value in emerging markets, at least for now.

What do you want to be when you grow up: a great brand, a great technology company, some of both - but at what balance? Can you rebrand out of an innovation slump? Can you reposition a runner-up as a winner?

Guess we'll all just have to see where Apple takes this fight next. No matter what they choose, innovation isn't optional.

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