Innovation Has No Shortage of ImpostersWe are constantly bombarded with marketing messages proclaiming some new product or service labeled as innovative. Being innovative has broad appeal.Indeed, when companies outline their core values, innovation appears on the list more often than any other quality. It even outranks integrity and respect.Yet, when we delve into what companies are calling innovation, it's soon evident that they often confuse innovation with mere ingenuity or inventiveness.Ingenuity is often no more than a clever or imaginative solution to a pressing problem. Innovation is far more than that.In this episode, I examine five criteria which must be met for something to be properly called an innovation. I do not take up this theme to be picky about word choices. Rather, it's to protect the true meaning of innovation in the popular mind.Our world faces monstrous challenges. They beg for innovation. But if we debase the word "innovation" so that mere ingenuity and inventiveness pass for it, we lose the ability to talk about innovation in a meaningful way, because any improvement can pass as innovation.It behooves all of us, therefore, to protect the integrity of the term "innovation." This first step in that direction is to gain clarity on what the word itself means. This episode strives for that goal.A transcript of this episode can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices