Here is an important section from Seth Godin’s “Free Prize Inside”:

Most successes, though, are actually the result of what I’ll call soft innovation. Stuff like fast lube shops, cell phone pricing plans and purple ketchup.

What really works? No surprise, it’s the soft stuff. The common sense, creative stuff that requires initiative and curiosity, not an advanced degree, to do.

The reason soft innovation works is that all breakthroughs (big and small) require quantum leaps. It’s much easier, of course to take a quantum leap with style or insight or guts (a nontechnical breakthrough) than it is by toying with the rules of physics or jumping Moore’s curve.

For all of my coworkers and bosses who keep an eye on this blog – soft innovation is what we need to be looking at.

It is easy to think that we need to change the world with our next big idea to be truly innovative. But I think that by not recognizing the importance of the soft stuff, we could be missing out on some great innovative potential.