At the Innovation Ball - another innovation song..

Managing innovation - creating value from ideas

Innovation is all about uncertainty - no-one knows quite what's around the corner. So there's a limit to how far we can plan to work with it - and instead we need to develop the skills of agility. As this song suggests, it’s a bit like learning to dance....

Dancing at the Innovation Ball
The thing with innovation, this is something you will learn

It never goes the way you want, you’ve got to twist and turn

The road ahead’s uneven, one way streets and plain dead ends

And there’s always something nasty hiding just around the bend!

But there ‘s one thing you can rely on, one thing we know for sure

Innovation’s quite predictable – it follows Murphy’s Law!

Chorus

So be quick on your feet and light on your toes

Learn to do the dance

Going round in circles is just how it goes

When your partner's name is Chance

Three steps forward, two steps back

And don’t forget to turn

Never mind when events try to push you off track

It’s just what you have to learn

It’s no big deal if you trip or you stumble

Don’t be afraid to fall

Intelligent failure’s the name of the game

At the Innovation Ball!

The best laid plans o’ mice and men do oft times gang agley

What the poet, Robbie Burns, was really trying to say

Is that things don’t always work out right, no matter how hard you try

So you need to learn to live with it, instead of asking why….

Of course you need a project plan, of course you need a team

But remember with even the best of these things are never what they seem

Chorus

Learning to dance this waltz might seem as hard as it can be

But if you keep on, persevere, it’s easy as ABC

Fail fast, fail forward, and pivot – capture what you’ve gained

Pick yourself up, dust yourself down and then go round again!

It’s build, test, review, build, test, review, and build, test, review, once more

Never mind if you’re feeling all battered and bruised from all the times you hit the floor!

Chorus

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