In the tech world, change is the only constant. Over my 25 years in the industry – some say equivalent to 75 years in terms of innovation cycles – I’ve personally innovated and launched over 50 products and services, most of which were designed to solve customer problems.
Through this experience, I can tell you that inventiveness is the key to surviving and thriving. If you’re in tech and not prepared to reinvent everything, you’re already living on borrowed time.
The very nature of tech demands perpetual reinvention and innovation, and it applies not only to products, but to every aspect of a business, from employment models to social impact strategies.
Reinventing Beyond the Startup Phase
A common pitfall I see in the industry is the obsession with startups. It’s almost become trendy to tout a business as a ‘startup’, but for me, it’s just a phase, not the ultimate goal. Saying you’re perpetually in the startup phase is like celebrating being engaged but never progressing to marriage (like saying fiance is cooler than wife) – it lacks long-term commitment and growth.
Inventiveness isn’t just for the honeymoon phase; it’s for sustaining momentum far beyond that initial burst of energy. As tech moves at an accelerated pace – for example it’s believed by some that cloud businesses evolve three times faster than most industries evolve – you need to grow the muscle for longevity. It’s not glamorous, but it’s essential; to adapt, you must be ready to constantly start from zero, building and rebuilding without hesitation.
Fear, High Stakes, and Resilience
If you want to last, you are going to need a high pain threshold. The industry is relentless, filled with high stakes and constant pressure. Every day can feel like a marathon, testing not just your stamina but your resolve to keep going even when others doubt you. Inventiveness and perseverance are intertwined—you have to keep moving forward, innovating not just when conditions are perfect but especially when situations are dire and options are limited.
Healthy fear is an intrinsic part of the job; it sits alongside coding, meetings, and deadlines as a constant companion. You’re always facing the unknown, and making decisions that are risky; the trick is to embrace the fear, commit and move forward. True inventiveness comes when you’re back at zero, when everything is on the line. The best ideas aren’t born in comfort; they come to life when the stakes are highest, when risk is the only path forward, and when trying something new becomes a necessity.
Breaking Rules and Changing Perspectives
Inventiveness isn’t just about thinking outside the box; it can often mean destroying the box completely. You can’t solve today’s problems with yesterday’s thinking (or with the same thinking that created them). The fast pace of technology means sticking with conventional wisdom can be the quickest route to irrelevance.
And in the corporate world, sometimes bending rules is not popular; going against that grain can mean facing scepticism, pushback, or outright disbelief. But the accepted ways of doing things in tech are often outdated before you’ve even perfected them.
This is exactly why inventiveness is so crucial. You need to be willing to make others uncomfortable, and to introduce perspectives that shake up the status quo. It’s hard, but it’s the way to create the kind of breakthroughs that can make a company a leader versus just another player in the field.
Reinvention is a Team Sport
One thing I’ve learned is that inventiveness is never a solo act, and going it alone is a fast track to burnout and limited thinking. Innovation and inventiveness thrive on collaboration. The myth of the lone genius innovator is just that – a myth.
Although it’s vital to note, those in leadership must journey far enough alone to break-through their own barriers and thinking. Sometimes, leadership does need that disconnected and isolated space to think and “see things” as they could be. From here comes the power to lead and collaborate with other amazing people.
Surrounding yourself with the right people – those who challenge you, contribute fresh perspectives, and aren’t afraid to push the envelope – is non-negotiable. Inventiveness needs to be embedded in the company culture, encouraging all levels of the organisation to think differently and voice their ideas. Whether it’s a brainstorming session or tackling a way to make an impact at the early hours of the morning with your team, collective effort breeds inventive solutions.
Play and humour can also be a powerful tool. Some of the best ideas come when challenges are approached with a sense of playfulness and creative abandon. As adults we tend to lose that intrinsic instinct – suppressed by practicality. Yet playfulness is about looking at problems without the restraints of conventional thinking, and when you’re combining play with collaboration – that’s when the magic happens. When you’re in an environment that encourages a playful mindset, even high-stakes scenarios can transform from stressful to stimulating.
Learning from Failure
Making mistakes is a critical part of inventiveness in tech, but you have to embrace the value and learn from them. Dissect why a failure happened and use it as a teaching moment. Failures often reveal inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement, and when you flip the narrative, they become the stepping stones to innovation.
Thomas Edison famously quoted, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” This mindset is what separates those who make it from those who don’t. It’s about reframing failures not as setbacks but as experiments that bring you one step closer to success.
Keeping Up with Trends and Beyond
Staying stagnant in tech, isn’t moving forward. Keeping up with trends, or better still, creating the trends, and constantly reevaluating your strategies is non-negotiable for longevity. It’s not just about chasing trends, it’s about understanding which ones align with your business model, the market and how to adapt them creatively. The best innovations come from finding that unique angle that others might have overlooked, and that takes more than just staying informed; it takes visionary thinking and practical application.
Making It Tangible
Inventiveness only matters if it’s real and tangible. When communicating with employees, stakeholders, or customers, throwing out ideas and hoping they stick won’t work. You need to make your ideas, strategies and innovations something people can see, feel, and trust. Credibility is built on execution and results.
The Reality of Tech: High Stakes and Endurance
Running a tech business is like managing a series of high-stakes ‘affairs’ simultaneously—cash flow issues, funding problems, staffing challenges, mega-competitors. These problems don’t clock out at the end of the day; they come to bed with you. Facing these challenges day after day means using them as fuel to keep reinventing, finding solutions, and pushing forward, even when the stakes are high and the path is uncertain.
Sometimes, a string of missed opportunities or failed deals can lead to breakthroughs. Learning from these losses can inspire the creation of new ventures, using past lessons as unique differentiators. Importantly, inventiveness shouldn’t be confined to just one area, like tech. I’ve embraced reinvention to branch into areas such as training and development, authoring a book, and establishing social impact and charity initiatives. This broader scope of innovation is vital and has become increasingly significant.
In the end, it’s the commitment to constant reinvention and adaptability that builds the muscle of longevity and ensures that your business doesn’t just survive but thrives in an industry that is constantly evolving.
Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
