Want To Be A Good Innovator - Keep Your Hands In the Cookie Jar!

There seem to be a number of phrases and words we see and hear every day such as; sustainability, and innovation. We use these words so much they've almost become cliché and reduced to rubble, no value to anyone. Interestingly enough, I do know a thing or two about innovation, as I've been innovating all of my life, mostly in business, but also now in retirement running a think tank. Let's talk shall we?Not long ago, an acquaintance mentioned to me that every time I say I am "retired" she laughs and tells me that I "will always have my hands in something," unable to turn my mind off or stop getting involved. True, enough, yes, I will most likely always have my hands in something - hopefully not the cookie jar. You see, my mom used to tell me I couldn't keep them out of the cookie jar and had a picture of me climbing on top of the refrigerator as a 2.5 year old collecting cookies after she tried to put it out of reach!Well, isn't that a lot like real innovating, as it is very much a matter of problem solving. Cookies way up high and I desire to devour cookies, you know like the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street. Now then, they say that when you have kids, paybacks are a beach. Perhaps it is things like that which I always had in the back of head reasoning why I didn't believe I should have kids. My genes are too much for our society, they are not ready for us yet! Into everything, can't leave well enough alone. And yet, although it is a good thing that not everyone is like me, we do need innovative thinking from our creative class, we need those creative geniuses amongst us to carry on.


If so, we should ask ourselves why our education system is so geared towards turning out masses of docile timid humans now, so many people on said planet, so hard to maintain control. Yes, we need those who do the work, but we also need thinkers. What I wonder often enough is why do we pretend and tell everyone to be innovators when in reality we don't want that and even select for the opposite?That is to say that now-days we are afraid of the high-energy anomalistic self-actualized individual, there seems to be a war on 'personalities' and individual thought. It's amazing, and it's even worse online, everyone wants to force everyone else into conformity, a lot of social control, on top of all our laws, rules, regulations, media, religions, politics, corporations, brainwashing education, etc.Well, this is why I am retired, not because I can't compete as surely I am a competitor, and not because I cannot innovate, because I've already proven I can out innovate the best of them, rather because the world really doesn't like folks like me much, innovators, it rattles their cage, like Socrates for instance. But I say; who wants to be part of the Borg anyway? Therefore, I want all innovators out there to know; forget the buzz-words and over usage of the words we most commonly hear, don't follow the conventional wisdom or seclude yourself to a single niche, keep your hands in the cookie jar - and you can far surpass all the wannabes out there talking the big talk and using all the right words.