4 Innovation killers to avoid

Innovation is becoming increasingly important to creating business success online. If you've been focused on the bottom line for long, developing the skills to innovate might take a little practice. Here are 4 common innovation killers to avoid:

1. It's already been thought of

Carl Sagan once said, "If you want to bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." It's almost guaranteed that a version of your idea has been at least thought of by someone else. So what? Innovation happens in the space between having a thought and making it real. That someone else has thought of your idea is not in itself a reason to discard it. If it were, the fashion industry would be out of business.

2. The research rabbit hole

You have an inkling of an idea. You google a key phrase. In a flash your inkling finds itself between the Scylla of page 10 in the search results and the Charybdis of Wikipedia. What nascent idea can stand against the sum of documented human thought, arguments, counterarguments and derivative musings? Don't subject your idea to research until it's had a chance to take shape on its own.

3. Not valuing what you know

Call it "the best lack all conviction" innovation killer. Bringing an idea to life takes the confidence to hold the space without knowing the exact outcome and without chickening out at the first run-in with an intensely passionate critic.

4. Somebody will take my idea

During the height of the first dot-com boom, I could barely go a week without someone NDA'ing me. It seemed everyone feared losing "first mover advantage" in grabbing market share. It's a scarcity-driven notion that might have applied to the pre-Web world, but one that is becoming less relevant. Ideas horded die in isolation, or at best become idiosyncratic hobbies. Sharing ideas with others who have their own to contribute makes them greater than the sum of each.

I'm a proponent of research, acknowledging those who had similar ideas, and testing ideas with logical critique and common-sense practicality at some point before they're taken to market. That point, however, is after the idea has had a chance to take form. Those who will succeed in the emerging business ethos will have the capacity for engaging both the creative messiness of innovation and the refining sweep of critique – and know when is the right time for each.