Innovation is the successful implementation of a idea. Why innovate? My simple answer is, to change what’s normal.

Right now in our world it is normal that:

*people die from preventable disease, under-nutrition and over-nutrition, every day
*not everyone has clean water
*at least 600 million people haven’t yet learned to read and write
*governments are slow to act and we all suffer as a result
*fundamentalism, both religious and otherwise, persists as a basic abuse of human rights
*climate change is killing our planet and us, and yet we still mainly sit our hands and allow our politicians to engage in petty, point scoring debates
*more than 2 billion people are expected to live on less than a dollar a day
*starving people don’t receive the food they so desperately need because of terrorism
*biodiversity loss is so great many of the world’s inhabitants are disappearing overnight
*economic instability and the lack of corporate accountability mean many people are suffering through no fault of their own
*electronic waste is a massive problem most people turn a blind eye to
*the social divide is getting bigger
*redefining growth has long been our agenda and yet we persist with old, worn out, and broken ways to develop
*peace is still a pipe-dream for half the world’s people
*democracy as we know it fails most people and yet we persist with the model
*opportunity for every person, a basic human right, is not possible for most the world’s people

The above are our world’s big challenges in my view. I find each of them unacceptable.

On perhaps a more personal level it is normal that:

*Most organisations provide mediocre service
*Lying, cheating, and bribery are accepted ways of doing business
*The majority of organisations have less than 50% of their employees fully engaged in their work
*Many so called great companies aren’t
*Fake leaders rule
*Most abuse comes from people in our families
*Most of what we really feel remains unsaid because we are afraid of what other people might think if we actually expressed how we feel

I could go on and on. Yet I won’t because I would get depressed. You might be already.

Who we are and what we do makes a difference, whoever we are and whatever we do.

I plead with you today to become more of who you are capable of becoming, and to do more to solve our problems and challenges, to change what is normal, because to do so is real innovation.

My 3 steps for innovation are detailed here.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Writer and International Business Speaker on how doing good is great for business

Please take up the Make a Difference Challenge before 090909

Labels: CSR, Ian, leadership, making a difference, vision

One of the Melbourne Age newspaper's great contributors is Martin Flanagan. I met him some years ago because his daughter and my daughter were in the same grade at Sacre Coeur Girls School in Glen Iris, Melbourne.
In the Age newspaper of 18 August 2007, Martin wrote of Muhammad Ali and his daughter who was currently in Melbourne, Rasheda. Martin said Ali is often described as'the most famous person on the planet'.
Why is this so? Flanagan, amongst a number of points, quotes Ali: "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."
I love this: the link between passion and vision. Passion drives the will, and the vision is created by the passion.
My focus over the past 14 years as an educator, professional speaker, business philosopher and coach has been on passion, and its powerful impacts on those who access it.
My definition of passion is this: "Passion is a source of unlimited energy from your soul, or spirit, or heart, that enables you to produce extraordinary results."
Muhammad Ali had passion and a vision.
Martin Flanagan's writing is so impactful because he is passionate about it.
I challenge you, the reader, to discover your passion, to nurture it, to rekindle it, and to access the amazing energy that is just waiting there for you.

Labels: Charles, sporting icon, vision