Are You Innovating or Inventing?

Here’s an interesting question – what are you spending more of your time on? Innovating or Inventing?

What’s the difference?

Inventions normally start in laboratories (or your office), based on your inherent strengths, and almost always focusing on how you can make a better product/service. Innovations usually start in the field, based on what the market needs and thus are consumer focused. Who decides if an invention is good? Usually the inventor. Who decides if an innovation is good? Usually the market!

When we talk about adding new features into existing products (our phone can do this, this and this!), we are talking about our inventions. When we talk about how we can make the pains our consumers have go away, we are talking about our innovations.

So what are the pains that your consumers have? What are you doing to truly innovate? What can you do to fundamentally change the way your consumers benefit from your existence?