Why Innovation Is Part of the American Spirit
Innovation occurs when individuals formulate new ideas by making connections among observations, experiences, facts, history, and feelings that initially may seem unrelated—but are—to uncover fresh, brilliant insights. We all have the power to design and develop thoughts into practical, market-capturing products and services that will improve everyday living.
As Americans, we are hard-wired to innovate. It’s in our DNA. It’s an archetypical American cultural value. Not only do we have a deep-seated belief in the possibility of personal invention and reinvention — the idea that we can make ourselves anew — but we also believe it is our right to do so. It is our right to invent and reinvent an identity for ourselves, hence the popularity of Snapchat and Instagram, where we share the latest versions of ourselves with our friends. It gets our juices flowing, to think of the best versions of ourselves, and then make it happen. We want to live longer, live better, live bigger.
Americans hold dear the philosophy that we can always improve. We can build a better mousetrap. Take away the idea of innovation and you take away the very fiber upon which we have built our communities. The cultural aspect of innovation is crucial to understanding why it will never go away, or be diminished.
We believe in personal, social, and psychological mobility — all part of our belief in a culture of mobility. That is, that we can change social classes, that we are free to uproot our lives and move physically, that we are psychologically flexible enough to adapt, to take advantage of the serendipitous occurrence, and that we can make change to improve ourselves and others. We can invent a new way to be, and this cuts across all ages and lifestyles.
Innovation runs deep in the American psyche, and it continues to be strong and successful as we grow older. Teens are cutting apart off-the-rack purchases and creating their own clothing. Millennials are taking to the blogosphere to create jobs for themselves. Boomers are particularly proud that they are not living their parents’ versions of their 50s or 60s. They are more active, more involved, and more innovative. According to Duke University scholar Vivek Wadhwa, who looked at 549 people who started successful technology companies, the average age of the founders was 40. Wadhwa also found that older entrepreneurs have higher success rates than their younger counterparts when they start companies. With acumen based on years of experience and practice, they have more knowledge and memories to draw on to synthesize new information, and a greater ability to anticipate problems. As we age, our use of complex reasoning skills improves – good for innovation, and imperative for a marketable product.
Real growth and real change will come from the free flow of innovation ideas from America’s individuals – of all ages — into its businesses. MIT professor Eric von Hippel noted that millions of people become inventive to solve a problem with existing products or to improve functionality.
What’s the change you want to see? Get started. You can be innovative, spark the engines of business and of our economy.
