Innovation Turned Inward

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in modern innovation came when Michael Jordan signed with Nike in October 1984. The eventual creation of Air Jordan wasn’t just another shiny new product disguised as innovation. It symbolized, though few realized it at the time, a new dynamic in our relationship with products, where part of our identity, our culture, and our products shape each other. Nike took a leap, and it paid off, Jordan became the GOAT, and together they redefined what it meant to wear a pair of sneakers. But it wasn’t without its hiccups.

Innovation, as we’ll see, demands leaps of faith, navigating through the uncertainty, and figuring things out along the way. These mechanisms apply not only in business, but also in our personal lives. The question is: how do we reinvent ourselves when we most need it? 

Every successful idea, project, or business needs innovation. And so do we. At the heart of innovation lies a relentless need to fix, improve, or provide a solution to problems that have not yet been tackled. This is as true for companies as it is for our own lives. To venture into anything new, we must first open ourselves to the process of uncovering, developing, learning, and disrupting. Reinvention is really personal innovation. Here are 4 steps to reinvent yourself:

1. Uncover

The first question must be: where do I start? Where are the unmet needs, the annoyances left unaddressed, or the pain points waiting to be solved? Uncovering is about exposing these problems. Contrary to wanting to be an entrepreneur just for the sound or prestige of it, uncovering isn’t about starting a company for its own sake or inventing a problem out of nothing. It’s about putting in the time and effort to clearly identify a real issue and choosing to solve or improve it.

One useful tool for uncovering new problems and opportunities is the SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Is there a weakness or threat that has not been effectively addressed? Or an opportunity or strength that hasn’t been fully tapped? If so, there’s a good chance we can innovate. The same applies to our lives. To innovate personally, we must first uncover which habits need changing, which ideas or opinions need challenging, and which parts of ourselves are ready to be re-imagined. Personal innovation is about rewriting the story of who we are, and who we are becoming:

• Habit uncovering: Which habits drain me, and which strengthen me?
• Relationship uncovering: Who uplifts me, and who holds me back?
• Identity uncovering: Which values and self-narratives define me, and which must I reshape?
• Vision uncovering: Where am I now, and what future do I imagine?

Uncovering is an ongoing process of self-assessment to get very clear about the possible changes in our lives. Once we identify the core elements we’d like to change and new patterns we’d like to incorporate, we need to figure out how to work through the uncertainties to get from where we are to where we want to be.

2. Develop

The cycle of innovation is also the cycle for personal reinvention: Idea. Plan. Prototype. Test. Iterate. Usually, coming up with ideas is the easiest part, but real development happens when we transform them into something tangible and test to see if they work. The key is understanding that development is a cycle above all. If we successfully iterate, we improve our chances of succeeding and bringing an innovation to life. The biggest challenge usually lies in this “gray zone” between developing the idea, building it, and figuring out if people will really want it. As Mike Rother explains in Toyota Kata:

“There are perhaps only three things we can and need to know with certainty: where we are, where we want to be, and by what means we should maneuver the unclear territory between here and there. And the rest is supposed to be somewhat unclear, because we cannot see into the future! The way from where we are to where we want to be next is a gray zone full of unforeseeable obstacles, problems, and issues that we can only discover along the way. The best we can do is to know the approach, the means, we can utilize for dealing with the unclear path to a new desired condition, not what the content and steps of our actions—the solutions—will be.” —Mike Rother in Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness, and Superior Results.

So the point is not having a perfect map, but a method to guide us through the uncertainties that come with innovation—whether in a product, a service, or in ourselves. When we’re ready for a change, the same cycle applies:

• Idea: I want to be healthier (set general aspiration)
• Plan: Lose a set amount of pounds over a defined period of time (define a target)
• Prototype: Experiment with intermittent fasting, aim for a set amount of steps each day, and avoid sugary drinks (take action)
• Test: Did I lose weight in a week or a month? (measure results)
• Iterate: Adjust based on the results (refine approach)

And it doesn’t need to be perfect, nor do you have to fit in any perfect parameters. It’s simply a method to see the change through. And because change is difficult, that’s where learning comes in.

3. Learn

Why does learning matter in the innovation process? True learning is accepting that our goals seldom go according to plan and having the predisposition to stay open and willing to make whatever changes are needed. In business as in life, if we want to see something through we don’t just launch and hope it’ll all work out—we launch and then get ready to learn from all the valuable feedback we’ll receive, whether from a customer or from a significant other. This is where all those small, incremental steps become our guide and help us adjust course along the way. We may not be able to see the full path ahead, but we can learn from each step as we move forward.

Learning isn’t only about gaining knowledge or skills, it’s about how we relate to the process itself: learning how to learn, and even learning about learning. In essence, the purpose of learning is to acquire abilities that will help us act in practice. When our well-being or our sense of success depends on being right or on achieving a milestone exactly as planned then we risk mistaking learning for performance and believing we can (or should) control outcomes. We shouldn’t trade openness, depth, and curiosity for rigidity, speed, or the need for approval. Learning is as much about intent as it is about letting go. Innovation is a continuous cycle of learning and relearning—keeping us open, humble, and moving despite setbacks.

Think about personal innovation. What kind of transformation are we seeking? Is there a new skill that could transform our professional life or virtues we’d like to incorporate? It could be a hard skill (chess, a new instrument) or a soft skill (communication, leadership) or one of identity (patience, courage). But it goes beyond this.

Consider a major life change requiring reinventing oneself. Perhaps we need to rebuild our lives around a new career, a new relationship, or a new location. In any big life change, whether imposed or sought, I believe we can tap into the innovation frameworks to help us adapt. Learning, not just as in an iterative process, but big-picture learning, can remind us what matters to us, what we should focus on, and keep us afloat in difficult times.

Let’s now imagine we have been losing weight, feel great, and have stabilized at a good weight. We’ve been adapting to new habits and cultivating new virtues. We’re finding ourselves honoring parts of our lives we had overlooked before. We’ve taken on new interests and have been learning different skills. But honestly, it can be as simple as just feeling better and starting to see life with newfound gratitude. Either way, our old self is in the past. We honor where we have come from, but we’re fully open to this new path. These changes ripple like new tides in all areas of our lives. This leads us to the final step, disruption.

4. Disrupt

But here’s what’s not so intuitive about innovation. In any innovation effort, in business as in our personal lives, if successful, we’re confronted with leaving a meaningful part of who we are behind. Trying something new and venturing into the unknown means we’ll need to learn to let go. That’s why successful innovation is inherently disruptive. There’s a cost of being successful just as there’s the more accepted cost of failure.

Disruption is what we make of it. When we embrace it, accepting what may come, old identities may change, but new ones will be formed. Trying to hold on to the past becomes a burden unless we have successfully learned from it. Then we can emotionally open up to the new paths ahead—a new relationship, a new career, or a renewed sense of self.

Of course, innovation and personal growth are cyclical. The beauty of innovation is that it’s never set in stone. Its impermanence could be a source of worry or liberation. Hoping for the new path to be “the one” isn’t what we’re after, and if it turns out not to be what we were expecting, we can always try again. Expecting results to unfold exactly as we envision is what creates unnecessary tension down the line.

But when we accept our efforts and results as continuous, that’s when we truly tap into the wonders of innovation: when we let go of our attachment to outcomes and the need for approval, and embrace the journey instead. And perhaps that’s the real goal behind innovation and behind life—to accept that we’re always becoming, rooted in our values, and present in each moment of our lives. In the past, companies used to push their products at us. Now, they aim to connect. That’s also at the core of personal reinvention. Not fitting a mold, but connecting with who we are and allowing for whom we may become. Nike and Jordan showed us what’s possible. They reshaped the Air Jordan as much as they reshaped our culture. And so can we.