Tuesday, 19 February 2008

2007_09_01_archive



Creativity as responsibility?

I'm excited to be taking a Marketing class on new product development

this semester. What's most intriguing is that our instructor is

emphasizing creativity and innovation, which has never been directly

addressed in any previous course I've taken.

My professor made one comment on this topic that stuck with me ever

since. He said that most companies seek small innovations. These

innovations typically revise existing products, but don't result in

anything dramatically new. This makes sense because these types of

incremental innovations are low-risk and relatively cheap. He added

that this approach prevents companies from exploring the more risky

and costly radical innovations that could result in new product

categories. As a result, companies are neglecting opportunities to

improve society with breakthrough products.

His words made me think that librarians have a social obligation to be

creative and to innovate. This obligation may entail approaches to

service that are dramatically different from what we've done in the

past. Continually revising services may not be enough to achieve the

benefits modern patrons seek.


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