Carat's UK Head of Innovation had some choice words on innovation.  Namely, what is innovation and should a company delegate its delivery to a certain group of individuals in an organization?  

My opinion and his words are, "as a word, it's applied to such a broad set of activities and intentions that it has become meaningless".  More practically speaking, when a title includes innovation, I have no idea what that person does.  

I even find the dictionary definition lacks applicability in our industry.  It states innovation is: "the introduction of something new, a new idea, method, or device". 

But is it?  When a brand, process, or technology is innovative are they simply new?  2500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Parmenides mused that "Nothing comes out of nothing".  I tend to agree.  Innovation can not come out of nothing.  

Music serves as a great example of innovative iterations on existing platforms and tech leading to breakthrough formats.  Loosely speaking, we had broadcast radio -> to vinyl records that were portable -> to tapes that allowed customization -> to the CDs that enabled compatibility -> to digital downloads that made sharing effortless -> to today's streaming services.  All improved on preexisting formats to better serve music lovers everywhere.  All iterations building on music formats.  Innovation.

Michael Lui, a strategist at our sister agency Carat, came up with my favorite example of innovation: the seedless watermelon.  All the watermelon, none of the bothersome seeds.  It is a wonderful example because it reduces innovation to its juicy core - the same thing, only better.  Even seemingly little improvements create innovation.  

If innovation builds off past success, formats, devices, tech, or processes then our new definition becomes: An improvement on an existing methodology or thing.  

If innovation is simply improvement on something that came before, it seems impossible then to delegate innovation to any certain person within a company.  Anyone is capable of it by simply improving a work-stream.  A media planner can come up with a better way to break out flow charts.  A strategist develops a better way to conduct a brainstorm.  A coder develops a better way to share music.  

Everyone can innovate and can do so on a regular basis.  

The only difference is how dramatically you have improved on something that came before.  When your innovation creates out-sized improvement, it creates out-sized value, distinguishing it from what came before.  Achieve this and you are both innovator and entrepreneur.  

Nothing comes out of nothing.  Work and life are before you... how can you innovate to make them better?