Tuesday, March 06, 2007

vu jàDé - the new innovation mantra

The word innovation has become a common place. Every one talks about it these days ... the resumes have paragraphs dedicated for innovation and not any fault of candidates, the job descriptions demand that.

I feel, as an act, innovation has been talked about so much and used in so many connotations that if tomorrow someone really innovates a process/product/service, we will have to call it something else.

Amidst plethora of definitions and suggestions about innovations, one that got me amused came from a talk show on CNBC.

The speaker suggested a term "vu jàDé" as an enabler of innovation. "vu jàDé" is the reverse of "Déjà vu", which means - An impression of having seen or experienced something before.

So, to be able to innovate, place yourself in an unknown territory each day and find a way to come out of it. While Déjà vu lets you to believe that you have been to a place you have never been - vu jàDé will let you to go to your most familiar place and look at it differently.

For an example,
you reach your office every morning and you start your day afresh - looking at a thing from a completely different angle. Can you do it? Well the answer will lead you to answer another question "Can you innovate?"

And no, there is no such word as "vu jàDé" ... yet!