In the first session of Innovate last week, Guy Kawasaki said something I’m still mulling over. True innovation, he said, is jumping from one curve to the next. He used the ice industry as an example. A long time ago, the only way to get ice was for a company of ice harvesters to take their horses and wagons out to a frozen body of water, saw off big chunks of ice, and cart them back to town to sell. But the ice harvesters failed to jump to the next curve, so they were replaced by ice factories. Ice factories harnessed new technology that allowed them to create and sell ice in any town at any time of year. Instead of improving upon ice harvesting, they created something new. However, the companies that were successful with ice factories didn’t jump to the next curve. They were too busy operating and improving their ice factories, so they were replaced by the manufacturers of home ice-makers. The ice harvesters and the ice factories failed to jump to the next curve so the world passed them by. Innovation, then, is not merely building a better ice-hauling wagon to improve the ice harvesting business. Innovation is using new technology to give people ice anytime anywhere.
A good example of this principle is what Radiohead is up to with their new album, In Rainbows. As Zach Lind noted recently, “most of the conventional outlets for getting music out there are totally broken, or severely neutered at best.” So Radiohead is embracing new technology, eliminating the traditional music industry middlemen, and releasing their album digitally. Instead of a fixed price, downloaders can choose the amount of their donation before they initiate the download. What they’re trying is risky—forsaking an established but declining business model—but it is also an innovative, buzzworthy move from a well-respected band. My guess is that they aren’t trying to make more money from record sales, they’re trying to make more fans. Fans have essentially given the objects of their affection permission to communicate with them.
The question then becomes what we can take away from all of this. What can we as church leaders do to jump to the next curve? As Guy Kawasaki demonstrated, good things happen when we invest resources into innovation rather than just improvement. Whether or not you’re a big fan of Internet campuses and multi-site models, I don’t think anyone can argue with the notion that LifeChurch.tv is in the innovation business. Exhibit A: YouVersion.