Charles Darwin was successful despite his cautious nature. But the outcome might have been different had not a 22-year-old's correspondence lit a fire under him to take the first step towards publicly sharing his evolutionary theory some twenty years in the writing.
Yes, fear can be a powerful motivator.
Alfred Russel Wallace received credit, as did a host of others, in Darwin's great work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection published November 22, 1859.
Darwin's differentiator? He supplied the how of evolution. It was his discipline and painstaking work with barnacles (not sexy, but useful research in the end), which made his ideas on evolution credible during a time when skepticism reigned in England.
[Richard Conniff's Smithsonian article On the Origin of a Theory <<< great read]
Innovation is essential to business and, increasingly, the company you keep will play a critical role in your own career success. But despite its importance, persistent shortcomings exist in creating it in the workplace.
What can we learn from Darwin's dilemma?
We can't afford to be too cautious and wait for innovation to evolve. The current economic meltdown and global problems have raised the bar for companies to transform their organizations and create innovation at a faster clip.
Innovation is Just Play!
Since innovation and discovery are play behavior, you'll get a chance to see it action during this week's Coach for Innovation show that airs Sunday, August 16 from 6-7pm Pacific on BlogTalkRadio. My guest, Mike Alvarado, social anthropologist, innovator, and president of Going Evergreen will walk us through his five actionable steps for fast tracking you and your teams in creating better and more useful innovation.
We'll be taking your questions on Sunday and I'll have the chat room fired up, so crab your favorite beverage and join us live. (If you do miss our live show, you can always catch the replay).