Innovation

Innovation is my passion - something that keeps me going. There is one thing in particular about "innovating" that I feel is very different from more classic "improvement" (making great things better). Innovators don’t ask a user or customer what kind of solution he or she wants based on an known problem. Innovation is about understanding a problem from a high level and diving deep into all necessary details, then creating a holistic view of the situation and ignoring all existing solutions. From that point on innovation is creating a whole new and disruptive solution, methodology or process which wouldn’t be created otherwise. If I would have simply built what our customers told me in regards to lead management – the superior PULL methodology would have never been developed. If I would have designed business processes around MDF&Coop program management based on customer requirements, a closed loop ROI management system would probably still today not exist. If I would have listed to friends and industry leaders how to build a successful whole sale distribution company, Computer 2000, which was the largest European computer distributor would have never made it. Innovation is more than out of the box thinking. Innovation requires a deep understanding of a problem, ignorance in regards to existing solutions, abstract thinking and dealing with complexity and patience to create an end-to-end solution.