Innovate or Implode

On my latest trip down south to Singapore 2 weeks ago, I had some dead time to be resurrected. So, upon checking in, I walked down to Clarke Quay for a beer and some reading ( I have limited my beers only to my travels as I find my favorite drink, single malt whiskey a tad too expensive on the road). The time was about 4.30pm and I was thinking to myself whether I will be able to find a nice joint where I can have some shade from the sun and some light food with a nice cold beer served with a friendly smile. Lo and behold, like something out off Inkheart, I found this nice outlet called Sosis selling a brand of German beer called Warsteiner. With a huge German sausage to devour and a cold beer to wash it down, I knew my evening was already well scripted. I could live with the fact that this takes place in Singapore too. I praise the innovativeness of the Singaporeans. You got to pay a visit to Clarke Quay to see what I mean.

But, my evening didn't go that pleasantly as I had wished for and it was all my fault : My thoughts wondered to an article I read in the Edge just that morning on my flight. The writer, after researching almost 2000 SMEs in Malaysia has concluded that our businesses are just not innovative. In fact he argued that many Malaysian businesses don't even feel the need to be innovative! A depressing thought to be entertained at such a moment but entertain it I did.

Any doubts about the writer’s conclusion? Try to find an outlet selling German beer and sausages along the Klang river! Or even a place to sit without foul smell for that matter!

Innovation, in my mind, is characterized by continuous reinvention and change. It is also characterized by hard work to differentiate not only in terms of products and services but also in values and behavior. Eversendai Corporation, is a Malaysian company which can vouch for the fact that by being innovative, Malaysian companies can overcome the odds to become truly world class. This specialist structural steel contractor is the epitome of innovativeness and hard work all rolled into one. Just take a look at Eversendai’s success list which began to take shape after their excellent delivery on the Petronas Twin Towers project :

Dubai : Burj Al Arab Hotel
Emirates Tower
Dubai Airport Control Tower
Dragon Mart
Etc

Qatar : Ritz Carlton
Khalifa Stadium
Etc


Bahrain : Al-Moayyed Towers

Saudi Arabia : Kingdom Centre

An these does not include numerous on-going land mark projects.


But why is innovativeness such a difficult thing to come by? I would like to propose the following top 5 reasons as to why we seem to be loosing out in the sphere of innovativeness:

1.Shackling employees to an extent that they find it to be not rewarding to be innovative.
2.A widespread culture of not tolerating genuine mistakes and failures.
3.Poor or non-existent reward system for innovativeness.
4.Labyrinthine bureaucracy.
5.An education system that limits the creativity by focusing too much on being ‘correct’ and not focusing on the ‘possible’ which finally produces a work-force who genuinely do not know how to be innovative.

And may I add one more particularly Malaysian-made innovation killer? Politics!

How else to explain the seemingly endless road blocks and resistance put in the path of a truly Malaysian innovation : Air Asia?