Daily Inspiration: Innovation & Discovery – “Never give up. Just give more.”

“Never give up. Just give more.” – Futurist Jim Carroll

It’s easy to give up.

It’s harder to commit.

But it’s the only way to get ahead.

I really like to take the time to wrap my head around an industry in which I will be delivering a talk. With that in mind, I’ve been reading the book The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler, by Thomas Hager. It’s over on Amazon.

It’s the fascinating story of the discovery of the process for the manufacturing of ammonia – and while it seems like it might be a kind of dull topic, it’s the type of scientific historical tome that I absolutely love to read. Books like these tell the story of innovation, creativity, and determination that no traditional business leadership book can. Rather than a series of parables, you’ve got a realistic overview of just what it takes to invent a new business – in this case, a scientific process that is excruciatingly complex and extremely difficult to master.

Reading the book won’t feed directly into the content of my talk, but it will feed into the narrative I deliver when I meet with the leadership team of a multi-billion chemicals company in this industry in just a few weeks. Their industry came about as the result of a big, bold bet, but also the dogged determination that comes with the complex task of the process of scientific discovery.

In essence, it’s the story of two individuals, who in pursuit of their goal, never gave up. They just gave more.

That’s a valuable lesson in and of itself right there.

The topic for my talk will be the themes of business models and product reinvention and transformation. If you follow my ’20 Trends for 2030′ overview, you’ll understand that every industry today is in the midst of massive change. This involves the invention of new processes and methodologies, the pursuit of new ideas, the introduction of new materials and new science, and the role and impact of new technologies and concepts of connectivity. Chasing the future today in every single industry involves massive change – and the leadership teams that succeed will be the ones that set the tone that in pursuit of tomorrow, we can’t give up. We can just give more.

Aligning to tomorrow is always about trying new things, exploring new ideas, understanding new concepts. That’s always an intimidating process right there, but those who succeed at doing things don’t give up – they give more.  We can easily give up because we are intimidated by the scale of the effort, fear that we might fail, or simply because we are uncomfortable in trying to move forward.

But it’s by putting in the work and giving more effort towards the goal that we can succeed.