How to Create Radical Innovation by Thinking Differently

There are expected norms, practices, and structures that make the world understandable and reasonably efficient. Unfortunately, these same structures also stifle the creative abilities of many individuals and businesses. Innovation requires the creation of something new, and a truly innovative leader must stand out from the crowd.

Every time there is a new groundbreaking innovation, a flood of imitators come along to copy that success. After Uber completely reshaped the entire taxi industry, a raft of gig-economy imitator apps were developed to apply Uber's model to other industries. A few managed to make some impact, but most failed as the trend passed.

Radical innovations like the iPhone or the internet itself did not utterly change the market because they were following trends; they changed the market because the way the new technology functioned was different and radical, yet understandable. They provided individuals with a whole new world of benefits and solutions that they did not know they needed.  Getting there takes some work, but you can also expand your creative and innovative thinking by embracing difference, nonconformity, and uncertainty.

The Cycle of Radical Innovation

Radical innovation tends to go in cycles. They disrupt the system already in place, creating a flurry of incremental advancements, adoptions, and enhancements that spread radical change across the market. The internet opened up a new era of information innovation that started with personal websites and ended with social media behemoths. The iPhone spawned a period of convenience apps for every conceivable purpose.

Many economists, such as Carlota Perez, match these innovation cycles to the long economic cycle, also known as the Kondratiev wave, named for pioneering economist Nikolai Kondratiev. By this principle, a radical innovation first upsets economies and creates a period of rapid change and realignment. As change progresses, incremental innovations gradually spread and consolidate radical innovations across society. As the cycle ends, a few companies usually take control over much of the new industry, such as Google, Apple and Microsoft in the information era, or Ford and General Motors in the automotive era.

Radical innovation sometimes seems to come out of nowhere, but for the people who come up with them, the advancement is logically incremental. Steve Jobs saw a new world of personal computing before most other people because, not only was he was well-versed in the computer industry, but he also brought a fresh perspective to it, outside of the usual 1970s computer-geek norms.

The Future Will Be Different

It is no coincidence that great innovators are sometimes seen as odd. Nicola Tesla, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk all have quirky public personas, some more than others. They are (or were) the type who think outside of the typical patterns that get most people through day-to-day life.  

Creativity researcher Dr. Eric Weinstein, a Harvard mathematician, member of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and managing director of Thiel Capital, states that this very difference is the key to genius and explains his position in a particularly interesting video presentation.  Many times the genius of innovators is muted during their education and characterized as a learning disability.  While such creative minds might not have conformed well to the regular structures of society, that handicap helped them to see beyond the usual and invent something radically new.

“Our cult of achievement is crushing

the genius out of people.”

                                                                        Eric Weinstein, Ph.D

                                                                        Direcvtor, Thiel Capital

You can take advantage of this idea of difference to expand your viewpoint beyond the narrow confines of assumptions built through personal history and experience. This process takes work.  Beau Lotto, a professor of neuroscience at New York University, author of Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently and founder of Lab of Misfits explains that the human brain has evolved to avoid uncertainty, and the basic assumptions about life make it possible to get through every day. You assume the ground is solid, so you walk on it. You presume that stores will sell products in exchange for money.

“Creativity asks us to do that which is hardest: to question

our assumptions, to doubt what we believe to be true.

That is the only way to see differently.

                                                Dr. Beau Lotta

                                                            Prof. Neuroscience, NYU

The stereotype of the weird genius exists for a reason. These individuals obtain a broader view of the world by seeing through and continually questioning these presuppositions. What they create may seem like an incredibly intelligent and innovative leap to connect divergent ideas, but to them,  the ideas were already related. To them, the radical innovation was merely another incremental step.

If you expect to find new radical innovation, you have to question your fundamental assumptions about how things work, both within industries and in society as a whole. You have to reach the point where you are "doing things that make almost no sense to anyone else," as Weinstein says. You have to accept the uncertainty that comes with questioning your assumptions and seeking out contradictory information.

Radical Innovation or Fantasy?

Radical innovation is extremely risky. For every Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, there were thousands who lost everything pursuing disruptive innovations. 

To lead your world-changing idea in the direction of innovation instead of insanity, you have to ground your difference in reality. If you want to change the computer industry or the energy industry or any other field, you have to understand what you are trying to change. Otherwise you will come up with great ideas that have already been developed, or ideas that are not great at all.

There are variations of creative differences. Some creative types are adept at spotting the potential in technology and innovation, but not at looking beyond the technicalities to see the bigger picture. Steve Wozniak was the technical mind behind Apple's early computers, but Steve Jobs had the vision to understand what customers wanted.  Jobs' genius was in presenting technology to potential customers in a way that they could understand. He had developed a skill for linking far-flung ideas with something familiar.

Do not get lost in the idea of being different for its own sake. Radical innovation changes the foundations of industries and society, not just by being different, but also by offering value in society-altering ways. The internet changed the world because it offered a radical new approach to connecting people, and people then made their additions incrementally. The only way to indeed change the world is to find something different that provides a benefit to people, and then to be able to explain to them why they need it.

Keyvan Samini is currently the CEO of Pitchtime and has served on the board of directors of various software and hardware technology companies. He received his master's in finance from Harvard University, his MBA from the University of Southern California, and his J.D. from the Ohio State University, where he served as law review editor.