Innovation is the implementation oI creativity.

Improvement
is making something better. Improvement is oIten a Iorm oI
innovation, but not always. Consider...

You have an idea to build an automatic Iried rice making machine. You pour uncooked rice,
egg, meat and vegetables into a box at the top oI the machine, press a button and 30 minutes
later you have a steaming hot plate oI Iried rice. This is a creative idea.

You decide to build the machine and sell it.This is innovation: taking a creative idea and
turning it into reality.

AIter you have built and sold the Iried rice making machine Ior a year, your customers tell
you they like the Iried rice making machine very much, but the electrical lead is too short and
the cover breaks easily.

You also have an idea that with a Iew minor modiIications,
the machine could make Chinese style Iried noodles as well
as Iried rice.

So, you get to work making version two oI your machine. You:

O make a longer electrical lead

O make the cover stronger, so it does not break oII easily

O modiIy the machine so that it can also cook Chinese style
Iried noodles


All oI these are improvements. The last improvement is also
an innovation as it results Irom a creative idea on how to
modiIy your machine to give it added Iunctionality.

Whether creativity, which leads to innovation, is learned or genetic is a controversial issue. I
believe both apply. All oI us have a natural creativity quotient which deIines our ability to be
creative, just like we have an intelligence quotient that deIines our ability to learn new
knowledge, natural athletic ability and so on.

Anyone can learn, Ior example, to play golI well. But not anyone can play as well as Tiger
Woods. He combines a natural ability to play gold very, very well with having learned and
practised a great deal.

Likewise, not everyone can learn to be a creative genius.But everyone can learn to improve
their creativity and innovation skills through reading, exercising their minds and practice.