However innovation – especially when disruptive – is often a maverick’s wonder child. Most of the examples in Sandeep’s post testify this. Almost, if not all. The examples of Blockbuster and Borders folding up from a seemingly invincible high are learnings etched on the wall. However, people still care not to heed. Organizations place cautious bets on innovation. That seems to be well justified – often, if not always. The risks weigh down innovations: they always did, and that’s not going to change ever. However Apple wouldn’t be the pioneer, it is today, had Steve Jobs yielded to shareholder criticism. He took the call and faced off the risk. And rest is history. Same goes for Google, LinkedIn etc.

Individuals (or, Organizations) – of the fair share I am familiar – would typically lend a cold shoulder to innovation. This isn’t of a specific class of organizations – but yes, based on my experience apply generally to the services organizations. Incidentally, the organizations, finding mention in Sandeep’s post, which adored innovation, are all ‘product’ organizations. By the way, it’s not a coincidence. That’s not to say all services organizations are weary of innovation; broadly they are. May be that is deemed fit, and accorded of appropriate priority.

Intriguing: while organizations realize benefits of innovation – why are they averse to innovation? Why are the examples numbered? Structured organizations become less innovation (a.k.a. investment) savvy as they grow. Or, is the subject somewhat soft? Does this have anything to do with the socio-political-cultural attributes?

How often have we not heard of social networking, cloud, and mobility as hallmarks of change in a corporate presentation? How often has their ability to translate this to solutions awed you?

Let us look at a few examples. The power of eCommerce (both B2B as well as B2C) is ubiquitous: has this been unleashed in emerging geographies – where it can deliver best value, and makes best business sense? The potential of mobility hasn’t been tried across automobile, retail, public distribution or banking segments – constituting almost half of India’s GDP. Did you imagine what all you can do with the reach of mobile phones in India?

While I see the latent power of innovation, unfortunately not many in the organization’s brass have embraced it. Even if it’s at the risk of extinction.

It’s like a view from the top – where the parallel lines and the parallels that Sandeep presents are indeed so analogous. The sense of observation is so sharp and so vivid as to cover the entire expanse from business strategies to nation’s socio-economic-political will to security. It’s just not been a superfluous observation but backed by incisive data.

The predictions and trends in Sandeep’s narration are thought provoking as much as intriguing. The insights on mobility, R&D investments and social networking are sure to see light of the day. The fact that the world order is undergoing a radical makeover post recession would be akin to the subject of parallel-lines-not-meeting and it wouldn’t be rhetoric to compare it to the ‘rise from the ashes of the phoenix’. A smart enterprise, like a smart nation, would look to invest in innovation and hence R&D budgets are set to soar. Likewise, there is a strong need for faster, more meaningful information in a collaborative model for competitive cost. This makes mobility advances and cloud adoption more viable than ever before. The momentum of all these changes would stellar and can only be deafened by one thing: the myth of parallel lines.

Now for the teaser: Parallel lines are lines that do not meet until infinity. But infinity is unquantifiable. So, do parallel lines indeed not meet?