Day 1 - Venti - triple shot - non-fat - no whip mocha by my side at 4 pm on Thursday afternoon. I've been asked to blog about Innovation and Thought Leadership in the water industry (specifically wastewater - my personal mecca). Another shot of coffee. I'm normally at my desk around this time of day eye deep in spreadsheets, progress reports, or power point presentations. Today I blog.
Let's start with Webster. "Innovation - a new idea, device, or method". Okay. Now try Thought Leader, a bit tougher. Webster bailed - Oxford Dictionaries took over. "Thought Leader - an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought after, taken to be authoritative and influential, and often rewarded".
Carollo has the credentials in water, let's see if we can influence an industry. Too often innovation is classified as a breakthrough in technology, something no one has seen before, a completely unique concept in all of its parts and pieces. I'm sure that's one aspect of innovation, pretty rare I imagine, but when these type of innovations occur I they can probably change the game. But that’s not what the definition says. All we really need is "a new idea, device, or method". Doesn’t say anything about being completely novel in every way. A new idea - this is how most of the innovations I have been associated with came about. A new way of thinking about and a new way of using existing knowledge. Pieces and parts put together in a different way where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts - Synergy - look it up.
So for Carollo Engineers, a company that brands itself as a water innovator, where do we go from here? First, start by gathering the pieces and parts in one room. One good thing with a firm like ours is that everyone is "way into water", off-the-charts smart, and wicked passionate about taking the water world to the next level. So we let them begin to paint a picture of the current and future wastewater industry. See if we can change the game.