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Provocative heading, I know, but I am starting to believe it. I don’t mean it as a force for good, driving this planet forward, but I mean it as a word.

‘Innovation’ has so many connotations and so many different interpretations.

When people hear that they need to be more innovative, they often don’t know how or where to start. It’s become a frightening word that applies to specialists and not to everyone in an organisation.

I think the problem is that innovation is a huge topic and there are many types and models for delivering it.

Everyone bores each other with the same stories of classic innovations. They all tend to be extreme, almost unattainable freaks of nature and so much removed from people’s everyday lives. No wonder the average person feels that innovation is beyond them.

Alternatively, innovations are defined in terms of big technical investments. Innovation is the lexicon of huge technology-driven companies. It’s big, its complicated and it’s rarely what ‘normal’ business folk do. It’s scary, risky and tough.

I believe that innovation needs to be humanised and made useful for us all. Perhaps what is more accessible is simple human creativity. It’s a part of who we are and, if channelled well, can create massive value.

Don’t imagine it to be a huge process that has to create billions in value. It can be any new thinking that creates impact. It can be a simple improvement to what you see happening in the world.

It’s more useful to think flexibly every day and to get everyone doing it all the time rather than only on special occasions and only for the select few.

I am thinking that if we were to stop saying innovation and to start talking about flexible thinking, then maybe more people would come and play, more would take some risks and ultimately more cool stuff would happen as a result.

Simple works.

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