Innovation Mindset: Ditching Buzzwords and Solving Real-World Problems
Is innovation a moonshot to Mars, or can it be as simple as tweaking a business process that saves money and time?
According to Arun Samuga, a supply chain technology executive at Elemica, the answer is both, and everything in between.
In this episode of Evolving Industry, Arun challenged the narrow view of innovation as only “bleeding-edge” technology.
He argued that true progress comes from a deliberate mindset and a focus on solving real-world problems.
Arun talked with us about:
Many people think of innovation as a grand, transformational event. But Arun says this mindset is a mistake.
Instead, innovation is a continuous, incremental journey that is inextricably linked to real-world utility.
“Innovation has many shapes,” Arun explained. “It could be about size. It could be about the form itself of the problem.”
He continued, “It’s not about just waking up one day and transforming everything around you. It's about taking those incremental steps, and the time dimension is important.”
While companies may feel they’ve innovated with a new idea, Arun cautioned that its true value lies in how it’s received.
You may have felt that you've innovated and created something brand new, but if you do not have that level of validation and confirmation from the end user... what use is it?” he asked.
He also noted that innovation is not just about technology. “AI or not, if you are able to solve those real problems through innovative techniques, not necessarily innovative technologies, you are on the path towards innovation.”
Companies have a core business built around either a product they produce or a service they offer.
This is where internal innovation and differentiation should live. However, Arun said that a lot of companies make the mistake of focusing only on their internal operations, missing opportunities that exist in their broader ecosystem.
He challenged leaders to think about a supply chain network: “If 70 to 80 percent of your problems are the same outside your four walls, what is preventing you from adopting a network ecosystem driven strategy?”
Arun argued that businesses can look at other industries to continue to drive more value to their consumers.
“That could be not just the way you manufacture,” he explained. “It could be the way you do quality inspection. It could be the way you ship. It could be the way you package, It could be the way you market, differentiate, price, deliver, and eventually get satisfaction, recommendations, or feedback from your customer.”
However, he cautioned that a company's core business should always be its primary focus and that they shouldn’t get too distracted by tangential operations.
“What happens within your four walls, you continue to chisel it... That's your core. But then when it comes to anything outside of your four walls... that's the last part you want to be competing on.”
Arun also pointed out that a lack of external focus can lead to failure, using the example of chemical companies that tried to launch their own marketplaces.
While the idea sounded great in a boardroom, the frontline realities of packaging, compliance, and pricing were overlooked, causing the project to fail.
“[These examples stem from] best intentions and great ideas, but if you don't think it through fully, then it would become an innovative project of thoughts,” Arun said. “But it would be truly innovative if it succeeded.”
In their rush to get things done, many leaders prioritize speed over stability.
This strategy tends to lead to quick fixes and technical debt that can cripple a business down the line.
Arun, however, argued that the most important part of an innovative mindset is the discipline to think for the long term.
He suggested that leaders must adopt a "quasi-infinite mindset" to technology and treat it as a continuous process rather than a one-time event.
“Then you're going to look at the problem as a flow as opposed to just an event that can be fixed,” Arun said. “So to take something as complex and complicated as technical debt and treat it just as a line item is actually not a good thing at all. It's not healthy.”
He explained that leaders must have the foresight to build "building blocks" that support the problem.
When confronted with the need to patch a system, Arun suggested, "I think with the advent of more and more automation in information availability... it’s about saying any data that goes through or gets exchanged between any parties is readily available.”
And he cautioned against sacrificing stability. “You never sacrifice stability over speed because once you fall, you're going to fall so hard that you really have to change shape. From that point in time here, at least you're stable. You can make incremental progress.”
Craving more? You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Evolving Industry on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.