In the great playground of business, innovation and creativity are the cool kids on the block.

The 2024 Global Innovation Index has been like a high school yearbook, pointing out the ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ among economies (hint: Switzerland is still the valedictorian). Meanwhile, Sweden is the rising star climbing the charts faster than a pop song in summer, and Singapore? They’re the new cool kid in the top five, throwing some serious shade in the innovation game.

Science and Technology hubs are popping up like coffee shops, with China opening new ones faster than you can say ‘double espresso’. And while we’re sipping on our lattes, marveling at these hubs of genius, we're reminded to ponder: Are we making sure this innovation party isn't just VIP? The Global Innovation Tracker is like that one friend who keeps it real, nudging us to make sure everyone gets an invite to the dance floor of progress.

So, let’s dive into the world of innovation and creativity. They’re not just business buzzwords; they’re helping businesses up-skill to the challenges of 2024!

Innovation and creativity are two of the most critical business skills. 

But what's the difference between the two? 

And which one is more important? 

I'm sure you've come across people who ooze creativity at work or in life. You know, those types of people that seem to be able to create great ideas when everyone else is flat-footed. Or the ability to ask one question that changes everyone's perspective of a problem.

Innovative people are harder to spot. They're more likely to share a new emerging trend they've discovered and be the first to see how it can be capitalised on.

Innovative people can also be great at spotting an underserved market opportunity and back it up by showing some actual data that proves there's a real problem worth solving. They're also the ones that will insist on validating that the market wants to pay for a solution before paying for it. In short, they exude commercial savviness.

I like to think of innovation and creativity as being Yin and Yang. None are superior to the other. Instead, the perfect mix is when you have both skills combined.

Here's why.

Creativity is the ability to see things in new ways and develop new ideas. A creative thinker may help to solve problems faster and create ideas for new profitable solutions. But may struggle with successful outcomes unless they utilise innovative approaches to validate the problem, market and solution.

Conversely, an innovative thinker may be great at identifying a potential market opportunity but need help to create a compelling solution that grabs the market's attention. Their new product may be the first to capture the market opportunity but may be superseded by a competitor's more compelling solution later. Having creative thinking skills would enable them to create that compelling solution. Innovation is taking a new idea or concept and turning it into a commercial reality. 

Both innovation and creativity are essential for businesses to thrive. 

Without creativity, businesses would never come up with compelling ideas for new products or services. 

And without innovation, those product and service ideas would never make it to market. 

So, by now you should be able to see that the best course of action is not either. It's both. Look at the most successful innovators. You will find they possess creative skills and vice versa for creative thinkers.



To help you get clarity around the key differences, here are the three main strengths that innovators and creatives have.

Leaders with innovation skills have the primary skills of being able to 1. Spot market opportunities 2. Validate the problem, market willingness and solutions effectiveness, and 3. Generate and commercialise an idea

Leaders with creativity skills have the primary skills of being able to 1. Create and find alternative uses 2. Abstract their thinking to solve problems, and 3. Ask better questions and turn frustrations into questions

Here's a breakdown of the innovation skills you should look for to accelerate your results. 

1. Ability to spot market opportunities

• Look for patterns in customer behaviour
• Decode customer or product reviews
• Research the latest trends via Google Trends and other trend-spotting sites
• Can see an unmet need or poorly addressed pain point that the industry has not capitalised on
• Ability to see potential in ideas
• Ability to see potential in opportunities
• Ability to see potential in problems
• Ability to see potential in change

2. Validation

• Applies A/B split testing methods
• Meets with and observes potential customers
• Surveys target market
• Creates rapid prototypes
• Tests with a small group representative of the target market
• Creates test landing pages to validate market interest
• Run ads to a landing page to validate market interest

3. Generate and commercialise an idea

• Brainstorms with a team
• Applies idea generation techniques such as Brainwriting, Elimination, Combination, Adaptation
• Uses idea generation prompts such as SCRAMBLE™️
• Sets time limits to generate ideas
• Helps to create a marketing strategy based on USP
• Finds and approach potential investors or internal sponsors
• Helps market the product by crafting a story and building a community
• Assists in launching the product or service

Here's a breakdown of the creativity skills you should look for to accelerate your results. 

1. Alternative uses
Sets a time each day to brainstorm ideas

• Writes down all ideas, no matter how silly they seem
• Gives themself and others permission to have bad ideas
• Opens themself to new ideas and ways of doing things
• Takes inspiration from others
• Constantly looks for new ideas to adapt
• Use prompts to jumpstart their creativity
• Sets a time limit to how many ideas you can generate in that time
• Look at things from a different perspective

2. Abstraction and abduction

• Researches the other side of the story
• Sees things from other people's perspectives and from different angles
• Talks to someone with different opinions
• Tries something new to get out of their comfort zone
• Combine things never combined before
• Identifies the attributes and look at new possible substitutions/ combinations
• Alters their thinking levels by asking what is the principle or philosophy behind an idea to achieve a higher level of thinking that is higher (more abstract) than normal
• Uses existing ideas from different worlds and adapts them for their own use 

3. Ability to ask better questions and turns frustrations into questions

• Prompts questions with Why, How, What, Who, Which, Where
• Asks descriptive questions - what has happened?
• Asks predictive questions - what will happen?
• Asks prescriptive questions - what to do next?
• Asks diagnostic questions - why did this happen?
• Challenges people by asking, "What would happen if you removed this constraint?" or "What would you do if you couldn't fail?"
• Prompts ideas by asking, "What do our customers need to believe in order to buy from us?"
• Prompts ideas by asking, "What do our customers need to understand in order to buy from us?"
• Prompts ideas by asking, "What do our customers need to be aware of in order to buy from us?"

1. "Imagine a world where [insert a radical change]. How would daily life adjust, and what innovative products could emerge?"
2. "Combine two unrelated concepts, like 'underwater' and 'festival', to create a new event. What would it look like and how would it function?"
3. "If you had an unlimited budget and no constraints, what revolutionary service would you create to improve [insert industry or service area]?"

1. "Identify an industry that has seen little change in the past decade. How could emerging technology radically transform it?"
2. "Consider a common inconvenience experienced by many. Can you design an plugin, gadget or service that would solve this problem using AI?"
3. "What are three ways AI could revolutionise [insert your industry or market] in the next five years, and what steps would be involved in implementing such changes?"