In the last week, I and fellow blogger, Mark Nankman had some discussions around a few topics, where we ended up with a series of statements which started with “The causal effect of…” and immediately we thought it would be a brilliant idea to convert them into a series of blog posts expressing our thoughts around them. Mark kick-started this series with his post The causal effect of being cool: gullible consumers and here I am with The causal effect of being lazy: Innovation It all sprouted over a discussion on Yammer over the last week. I have this strong feeling that Innovation is not something that comes only from the top-leadership of an organization nor does it vary by geography it comes from. It basically can come from anyone and everyone from anywhere in this world. Another tangent around Innovation is what this blog title reads. During my childhood days, I remember my parents used to always warn me against being lazy and ensured that I never showed laziness (even it meant getting up early on a Sunday morning :-)). However I used to always have a counter argument that unless we (humans) become lazier, we will never be able see the advancements and evolution of technology. I always gave simple examples like without being lazy we would never have innovations like cordless phones, TV remote controls and the likes. These were the obvious ones that I could show them at home; nevertheless, if one actually gives it a thought, I am sure we all would agree that YES, laziness could account to most of the innovations in the world today. So, to conclude: laziness certainly can sow the idea-seed which when nurtured with all the hard work, can lead to an innovation. So think lazy, work harder! :-) P.S.: In fact, the converse is true as well. Innovation has surely led a lot of people to become lazy! :-)
Nikhil Nulkar is a knowledge management consultant within Capgemini and is passionate about web2.0 and social media. Want to know what he is up to? Follow him on Twitter
