Is Your Company Innovative? Prove It. Show It.

I was asked once if I thought a certain company I worked with was innovative. I said, "yes," although the company didn't always show it.

If you're going to make the claim that your company is innovative (and what CEO today would not?), then you need to take every opportunity to show the world and your clients that you are staying ahead of, or at least with the curve. Does your office look modern and fresh or like an insurance company from the 1970's? Does your website look original and contemporary or does it look like you just changed the colors on a $29.95 template?

And what about your presentations?

Do you walk into a room with a 5-year old Dell and Death by PowerPoint 2003 or do you present with a sexy MacBook Air and Prezi? Do you hand out a 75-page deck plastic comb-bound at Kinko's or do you leave behind a Galaxy Tablet with your portfolio and presentation? Do you whip out out an old BlackBerry in a meeting or a new Droid?

I know, staying up to date with technology and hardware is expensive, but if you can't outfit your entire 1,000 person company with new laptops, maybe you can spend a few thousand on a few MacBook Airs that can be checked out from IT each time someone has a pitch. For the cost of flying in that consultant from Tokyo, maybe do a video conference and use the savings to hire a presentation designer or firm.

One of the first Prezi presentations I saw was when Chris Anderson of TED, gave a brief talk about the international reach of his organization. He used a map of the world and flew around it, playing video clips from the various locales that TED events have taken place in. Chris didn't say, "TED is innovative." In just one small way, he demonstrated it.

Here's another Chris Anderson talk in which he uses Prezi:

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"Innovation" is a huge, loaded minefield, but one of the kings of innovation is the design firm IDEO. If you want a good "Innovation" read, I highly recommend their book, The Art of Innovation.