Greg Canty Fuzion Blog

Steve Jobs - We need to think like him!

When we think about innovation we normally conjure up images of scientists in laboratories working on breakthrough experiments and we think of people like Steve Jobs at Apple launching great new iconic products like the iPad.

While this type of innovation is “in lights” we need to embrace some form of change and innovation in the way we have been doing things for all of us to survive.

In Fuzion we are lucky in that during the course of our work we meet “innovators” on a regular basis as part of our work, people trying to launch new products and services. For example recently we had a guy who owns a company operating in the construction sector who has just developed a new product, which he is looking to launch in the marketplace. He explained to us how excited he is at the moment and how he is now actually enjoying the new challenges that the current environment has thrown at him.

This attitude is great and shows the resolve of people who are not sitting back and innovating, mainly forced due to circumstances. This is all about doing something new but I feel innovation can come in many other ways.

I write this on the Sunday, 28^th November, 2010 when the IMF bailout agreement has been put in place with Ireland (and to add insult to injury Liverpool surrendered a good performance and lead and ended up losing to Spurs!). Everyone is up in arms, protesting and venting their fury through angry conversations, online on twitter, with angry editorial in our media and yes..it is awful.

We are now paying for terrible excess, lousy governance and mismanagement in “our” country but we need to take responsibility and we desperately need to start doing things in new ways and different from the past.

What kind of innovation is needed from us?

We need to find new ways of running our country efficiently, at a much lower cost and more importantly provide new opportunities for those displaced. There is an opportunity to really sort out the excesses in the Public Sector, which must be embraced.

We need to take a new and responsible approach as to who we vote into power next time round.

We need a new system of government that promotes standards and expertise and not local favours.

We need a new tax system that incentivises risk, investment in expansion and new employment.

We need new approaches to deal with the excess in commercial and residential property in the country. There are solutions that will help here that have largely been ignored. New conditions need new solutions.

We need new approaches to red tape legislation and regulation and adopt a genuine agenda of making things happen instead of “you can’t do that because”. How about “If you do this it will be fine”?

We need a new, but fair welfare system that cares for those who genuinely are unable to work or those who cannot find work but does not reward those who choose to take an easy option.

We need new and honest attitudes towards cheating in this country.

We need new attitudes towards buying products and services from Irish suppliers.

We need new messages about Ireland and start talking up how great this country is to anyone abroad.

We need to be creative and take new approaches to finding work including “try before you buy” and this needs to be genuinely supported by our welfare systems. People who take a risk get rewarded.

We need to start having new conversations about positive things. I can’t take any more of this doom and gloom. It has us all in a very deep hole, which isn’t helping our country.

No one owes us a living, but we owe it to ourselves to reinvent ourselves as true innovators, start adopting new attitudes and new ways of doing things in Ireland.

Ok, it’s not exactly like Steve Jobs this is real innovation that we can all adopt and really need to at this stage.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Tags: Apple, Fuzion, Fuzion Communications, Fuzion PR, Greg Canty, Irish Economy, Marketing, Recession, Recession in Ireland, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs Apple

This entry was posted on December 14, 2010 at 11:31 am and is filed under Irish Economy, Irish Politics, Marketing, PR, Recession. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.