Hello Innovator!

It’s easy to feel like an “innovation” title automatically places you at the forefront of what’s next. But it’s equally easy to get mired in the process and detail of the corporate machine. This week’s edition is a reminder to step out of your comfort zone, and a list of five easy ways to make that happen.

Here’s what you’ll find:

• This Week’s Article: You’re not an innovator. You’re just in the room.

• Share This: “Just because you’re in the room where innovation might happen doesn’t mean you’re the reason it does happen.”

You’re not an innovator. You’re just in the room.

You’ve got the job title. You’ve got the headcount. Maybe you’ve even got an “Innovation Lab” with whiteboards and a neon sign that says something mildly inspiring like “Fail Forward.”

But let’s be honest… When was the last time you built something new?

Not pitched it.
Not sponsored it.
Not forwarded it to a team and said, “Let’s explore this.”

Actually built something. From scratch. With uncertainty. With risk.
With no guaranteed outcome.

If you can’t remember the last time, you’re not innovating.
You’re managing the appearance of innovation.

Your calendar is a lie.

Pull up your calendar right now. (No…seriously, have a look.)
Count how many hours this week you’re spending on:

• Planning

• Alignment

• Governance

• Internal presentations

• Executive updates

• Vendor scoping

• Slack pings and async comment threads

Now count how many hours you’re spending with customers, outside voices, or ideas that might actually break something. Or piss someone off.

What gets your time is your job.

And for most corporate innovation leaders, the calendar tells the truth…
Are you building the future?
Or are you protecting the present from being interrogated too deeply?

Innovation isn’t a role. It’s a behavior.

There’s a dangerous comfort that creeps in when your job is “innovation.” The title creates a false sense of motion. Perhaps even grandeur.

You’re standing close to the language of change.
You sit in the meetings where decisions (supposedly) get made.
You have license to talk about what's coming next.

But that doesn’t mean you’re doing the work.

Are you talking with customers to understand their behaviors?
Are you testing risky ideas with prototypes in front of real people?
Are you questioning the way your org measures success?
Are you saying anything that would get you kicked out of a QBR meeting?

Innovation isn’t something you’re assigned.
It’s something you do.
Consistently and habitually.

It’s how you approach your day, where you focus your energy, what you choose to notice, and what you’re willing to challenge.

Just because you’re in the room where innovation might happen doesn’t mean you’re the reason it does happen.

Have you stopped doing the things that made you good?

Remember when this work felt electric? When you were the one asking the off-the-wall questions that paused the meeting and stopped everyone in their tracks? Or when you were the one who built the thing no one expected?

You didn’t get into this space because you were great at approvals.

You got here because you were willing to challenge things. You hacked together prototypes on nights and weekends. Instead of waiting for permission, you went out and made something real.

That version of you still exists. But somewhere along the way, the decks got slicker. The questions got softer. The work got safer.

You started collecting ideas instead of pressure-testing them.
And no one stopped you.
Because this version of you is easier to manage.

But innovation isn’t safe. It doesn’t beg for polish.
Innovation requires provocation. It demands energy. It begs for risk.

This isn’t a callout. It’s a reminder. You were dangerous once. You can be again.

Want to be dangerous again?

Hopefully you’ve remembered what made you sharp. Now you need the discipline to hone that edge.

Innovation isn’t a quarterly initiative. It’s a set of daily, deliberate, and sometimes uncomfortable behaviors that keep you dangerous. That make you unpredictable in the best ways. That make you valuable not because of your title, but because of your actions.

If you want to reclaim your credibility as someone who drives real change, you have to get back to doing the actual work.

Here’s how…