Twelve months ago, I would’ve told you LinkedIn was the best social media platform out there—the biggest opportunity. I also believed it was the most authentic, the easiest place to forge genuine connections with people.
Maybe some of that still holds true, but now it feels like everyone got the memo and jumped on the bandwagon. My feed, once filled with inspiring success stories, innovation, and genuinely positive vibes, now feels overrun by plastic gurus, platitudes dressed up as insight, and endless virtue signaling.
Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but here’s the point: when something works, people copy it until that unique thing becomes all there is to see.
To stay ahead, to grow, to truly build something meaningful, you have to innovate. And innovation is hard — scary, even — and far from guaranteed. Sure, you might get some traction by following the crowd, but you’ll never lead. To lead, you have to take risks. You might fail spectacularly, or you might just grow exponentially.
With that in mind, and to kick off your week, I’ve gathered a few insights from people much smarter and more successful than me. Here’s what they’ve got to say about innovation:
Innovation is taking two things that already exist and putting them together in a new way
- Tom Feston
This one’s huge.
iphone = phone + mp3 player + web browser.
Netflix = video streaming + DVD rental.
Tesla = Electric Cars + Luxury, modern design.
Spotify Wrapped = User Data + Motion design and visual storytelling
Maybe have a think about your content and your marketing. What do you have already? What could you build? And how could you combine them to make something new?
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.
- Theodore Levitt
In other words, Ideas are cheap, it’s only the doing that matters. Try stuff, lots of stuff, fail time and time again; if you learn to see failure as a successful experiment, something will catch fire before long.
There’s a way to do it better — find it.
- Thomas Edison
Never be satisfied with what you’re currently doing. So, a campaign performed better than your previous one? Great! But don’t just repeat it because that’s what “works”, because…
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.
- Tony Robbins
Another quote along these lines is about how the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results (not a great definition for insanity if you ask me, but a great definition of hack marketing).
The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
- Steve Jobs
This one is frustrating but true. You’re not going to be able to innovate if you don’t love what you’re doing. When you love something, you can’t help but to innovate, one crazy idea leads right into the next and before you know it you’re an island of one.
Not to say you still can’t do great work. I like marketing well enough. It’s the best field I’ve ever worked in, and it’s given me the best job I’ve ever had. I’m good at it, and I’m able to make people money, but it’s not my real passion. Fortunately, my clients are extremely passionate, and I am able to leverage that.
So, it’s perfectly possible to be succesful in your work even if you don’t love it. But loving it helps. And I know no better fuel for innovation than passion, so if you want to take things to the next level, start there, I reckon 😉😉
Have a great week!
