Innovation is not a controllable product; it cannot be produced in a planned and predictable manner within ordered structures. Innovation is a breakout from the closedness of logic, an irrational event. From the point of view of hierarchy it is nothing less than a miracle, just as the miracle of the magician from the point of view of causal thinking. It triggers the emotion of surprise, the "Ah " and the "Eureka!". Even the inventor often has no explanation about the genesis of his invention.
Innovation in the sense of bringing forth something new and not only deriving a new variant from the old known, however, is not a privilege of particularly gifted individuals, but a basic characteristic of all living beings: "Learning" (again a behavioral description of the observer!) is, after all, nothing less than the gradual invention of a reality through interaction with an inaccessible environment, including, with the help of language, an own "I". It is impossible for us in this sense to be "non-creative" or "non-innovative". Creativity and innovation are basic conditions of life. If we delegate creativity as a special property to artists and inventors, it is only because our society, which is oriented towards logic and predictability, expects us first and foremost to behave as regularly, reliably and predictably as possible. For this purpose, children are sent to school, we learn laws and rules of the game, norms and moral concepts, until we are convinced that creativity is only in good hands with artists and inventors.
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> If, however, neither the demands of the worse-off majority of mankind can be contained to such an extent nor the demands of the better-off minority in the West can be reduced to such an extent that there is no collision with the Ecological Limits of Growth, there is only one other way to avoid a then threatening inclusion crisis: scientific and technological innovations that push back the ecological limits.
Do we put our fate in the hands of magicians?
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Q: Why bother with the VSM?
2. Innovation vs. Incremental Improvement. Generative inventive creative relationship with the environment and the long term future. This is easily missed in the VSM model and in business. The near term and pressing can blind and cripple this function. I use Ackoff's Idealized Design for this exploration of innovative possibilities.
Here is a great talk by Russel Ackoff on the discovery of Idealized Design. Vimeo 
It is 30 minutes. Sit back and enjoy it. He is a great story teller and it is an important and memorable story.