The emergence of Citizen Innovators represents a shift in the ownership of ideas – from the few to the many. These are the people who will change the way we innovate, from product development and business modeling to reinventing healthcare and improving the planet on which we live. To contribute to solving the glut of challenges and understanding the needs that affect all of us. Finding ways for meaningful contribution are hard to identify, match and integrate with our talents – our natural archetypes – for the regular Jane or Joe.Īs we struggle with the balance of art and science in business today, it’s time to tap into the legions of Citizen Innovators who are ready, willing and perfectly able to invest their experience, smarts, creative talents and hunger to contribute. I find it ironic that in our technologically advanced and hyper-connected world, there’s little opportunity for the general employee population to be a part of innovation. Introducing the Citizen InnovatorĪ Citizen Innovator is anyone at any level of an organization playing an active role in the process of coming up with, sharing and pursuing ideas with a specific objective in mind. The truth is, these are the very people who represent a shift in who owns ideas as we move toward a democracy rather than a dictatorship in innovation. As I’ve worked with teams the last few years to up their innovation quotient, I’ve noticed specific patterns in how people innovate, and they don’t follow these stereotypical labels.īut what happens is that when people don’t fit in the traditional boxes for innovators, other people either dismiss them as irrelevant or label them a troublemaker. If we had to answer the question, “Who innovates?” we’re likely to talk about the boilerplate of innovators – engineers, design thinkers, creative directors and others with official titles. They dwell in our unconscious and influence our every move, much of the time without us even knowing it. Archetypes are the secret forces behind all human behavior. Plato once said that your archetype describes “your ideal self.” When a person embraces who they really are, that’s when they’re at their best.

Carla johnson