in•no•va•tion [in-uh-vey-shuhn]
Years ago, we defined what we called Evans’ “Pillars” which represent the foundation of our company and our success.
Heritage – Leveraging our history, experience and best practices in warehousing, transportation and logistics
Passion – Professionals who love what we do!
Simplified Systems – Implementing the right technology while making it easy.
Innovation – Creativity, flexibility, anticipate needs, and proactive solutions.
Of these, Innovation is the most difficult to define and perhaps the most important element when developing and implementing our solutions. During a recent Detroit Economic Club luncheon, Burberry’s CEO Angela Ahrendts and Jane Stevenson author of Breaking Away – How Great Leaders Create Innovation that Drives Sustainable Growth and Why Others Fail addressed the topic of creativity and innovation as required to succeed in today’s digital world. “… great leaders that really create a distinct difference in their organizations …celebrated change, and they utilized innovation,” Stevenson said. Ahrendts gave examples of the ways in which they are building a creative thinking culture at Burberry. “We discovered very early on the power of compelling, emotive and inspiring content,” she said. “It helps reinforce the dream; it helps fuel that belief in the great things that the company can achieve together.”
The warehousing and logistics industry today is so much more than brick and mortar and trucks. It’s all about the people, ideas, solutions, passion and yes, innovation. Not just at the beginning of a relationship, but asking every single day – how can we do it better, smarter, at a lower cost? It’s challenging ourselves, our partners, and yes, our customers.
People often use the words “creativity” and “innovation” interchangeably but we really shouldn’t. Creativity is about coming up with new ideas while innovation is about bringing new ideas to life. While we encourage each other to display creativity every day, we celebrate true innovation which occurs when we can collaborate with our customers to bring creative ideas to life.
Innovation is key to growth and improved performance and through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality and competitive positioning. It adds value by changing old practices replacing them with “best practices”. When considering our pillars – I think Innovation may actually drive the others – enabling us to build upon our strong Heritage, fueling our Passion and Simplifying our Systems.