Innercourage

Being innovative requires a certain tolerance for and acceptance of failure, which is more than just risk tolerance, it’s courage

It’s not difficult being creative to generate fresh ideas, it’s difficult for you to be understood by others most of the time. It’s difficult to break down conventional wisdoms, overcome obstacles to implement those ideas. 

Creativity requires a certain tolerance for and acceptance of failure, which is more than just risk tolerance, it’s courage - to be courageous to do something you believe it’s right; to be courageous to listen to what you don’t want to hear; to have the guts to make tough decisions; to be courageous to walk through trial and adversary without losing your confidence. Being courageous is not only about being brave or bold, but it is also about the combination of vision, passion, and intellectual risk-taking.

Passion and courage are good pairs: To inspire innovation, people should be encouraged to develop innovativeness as a state of mind. People love changes and innovating especially if they are pioneers in introducing the ideas or changes, always look forward to something different and new, stimulate creative energy, see alternatives, think differently, think positive, think fun, or think beyond your reach, to re-imagining “what is possible.” In fact, human beings need to be enthused to participate and achieve goals courageously by tapping into the most powerful and brilliant mode of thinking anytime.

Being innovative means to deprogram old mindsets, let go of outdated concepts or the voices from the past, keep the mind fresh with updated knowledge to generate novel ideas all the time. Passion and courage are good pairs to make constructive disruptions, break down old traditions, keep learning and innovating. Anyone is capable of innovating if they are capable of silencing the noise in the mind, courageous enough to think outside the conditioned mind without fear, untangle complexity, in pursuit of truth from false or confusing, search for fresh ideas and widen the possibility even if you don't have all the puzzle pieces.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point: It takes courage to know your authentic self, be creative to think out of the box and explore better ways to do things. Without courage, people simply cannot move out of their comfort zone, and drive any progressive changes. Without courage, there is no innovation or innovators; human society will stagnate. Courage is necessary for people to become more resilient for adapting to the changing circumstances, allowing them to fail, learn and grow from failure consistently.

Innovators need to rise above the status quo and take on a new set of activities that have them involved in shaping big ideas from the get-go. There are tests and trials on the journey of what we call life. Courage is essential to enable oneself to operate beyond ego, become more inclusive by surrounding yourself with a diverse group of other leaders and followers that will provide you with everything that you do not innately possess yourself. Creative leadership is great when you think, act and enable others with a creative spirit to discover, explore, improve, delegate, and achieve great trusting

Being courageous is not the absence of fear; it is acting in spite of it: Fear can paralyze an individual to change inertia, or become a manipulated mentality to spur negative emotions. Fear has always been one of the major obstacles to change-fear of failure, fear of loss of control, etc. Fear will drive you away from your personal goals, your ambitions, your standards, and norms. Fear of consequences stifles creativity. Likewise, fear can paralyze a company to maintain the status quo, refusing to adapt to change or innovate.

Being courageous with a “fearless” mind implies open-minded thinking, bold perspectives, step-wise actions. When people shift from a “risk-avoidance” to “risk intelligence” mentality, they weigh on risk and reward, take prudent risks and find ways to mitigate risk rather than eliminate it. At the business level, building a “fearless” working environment means to inspire openness, critical thinking, and empower talent to unleash their potential with confidence, courage, and focus.

People can be creative and express themselves openly. Being innovative requires a certain tolerance for and acceptance of failure, which is more than just risk tolerance, it’s courage. It takes courage to get out of fear, release creative energy. Innovators are courageous, top management will have to proactively create such a culture of learning and innovation, inspire courageous thinking and acting to make transformative changes, strike the balance between leading and following, pushing and pulling, risk taking and cautious optimism, in accelerating business growth and increasing organizational changeability.

Posted in: Creativity,Innovation