Innovation Dynamics – Nouns and Other Useful Definitions

Nouns: words that function as the main subject of an action, referring to a person, place, thing, state, or priority.

A

Activity:  action or sphere of action

Action:  energetic activity

Acceptance:  the act of receiving and approving

Accomplish:  to perform, finish, or bring to a conclusion

Achieve:  to bring about an intended result

Acquisition:  the act of gaining possession

Adequacy:  sufficiency for a particular purpose

Adoption:  the act of selection to take as one’s own

Affinity:  a natural liking or attraction to something

Ambiguity:  an unclear, indefinite, or uncertain meaning or intention

Anatomy:  the study of physical structure

Anomaly:  something different, unexpected, peculiar, or unusual enough to be noticeable and seem strange

Appeal:  the level of attractiveness

Area:  a field of study or inquiry

Archetype:  a pattern or model (etymology: arkhe = beginning ; typos = model)

Architecture:  the fundamental design or underlying structure

Assessment:  the act of evaluation and making a judgement

Assertion:  a positive statement made with or without supporting evidence that is either true or false

Attractiveness:  the capacity to arouse a person’s interest and consideration

Availability:  the fact that you can buy, get, or have something

Awareness:  a state of knowledge

B

Base Camp:  the starting place from which exploratory activities can be carried out

Bias:  a specific tendency affecting action that is preconceived and unreasoned

Binary:  consisting of two things in which everything is one or the other

Boundary Conditions:  the defined limits that identify what is considered and not considered in a frame of reference

Breakdown:  a failure to work as expected or to obtain a desired result or outcome

Business Performance:  the combination of Sales Volume, Revenue, Gross Margin, and Net Income resulting from business activities

C

Challenge:  an issue or undertaking that is difficult to explain or figure out

Change:  a modification or transformation within a system from the current state to a new future state

Circumstance:  a condition or attribute within a system; what you are dealing with

Collaboration:  the process of aligning cooperative action with individual commitments

Commercialization:  the actions and activities associated with making a product  / service available for profitable sales through facilitated customer adoption

Communication:  the sharing or exchange of ideas, opinions, or information

Competence:  the individual quality of possessing the required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity

Complexity:  the state of an intricate, interconnected assemblage of related things

Concept:  the combination a fully defined idea with the know-how to make it a reality

Congruence: the state of agreement between 2 or more things

Constraints:  limitations or restrictions

Context:  the circumstances and boundary conditions concerning an event or situation

Conundrum:  an intricate and difficult problem usually characterized as a puzzle

Conversion:  the act of changing character, form, or function

Cooperation:  coordinated effort for common purpose and benefit

Creativity:  the ability to invent (i.e. create) unusual or original ideas

Creative Thinking:  the ability to interpret situations and issues through different frames of reference to invent novel solutions for issues or problems

Critical Thinking:  the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue to form a judgement

Curiosity:  a desire to learn, seek truth, or gain knowledge through inquiry and asking questions about something new

D

Decision:  the act of declaring a course of action

Degree:  extent, measure, or scope

Design:  a concept that can be acted upon and made tangible

Detective:  a person whose job it is to discover the parts and pieces of a situation and solve a puzzle

Development:  the acts associated with making progress towards a completed product or service

Diagnosis:  analysis of the cause of a problem

Diffusion:  the act of spreading out

Direction:  the orientation aligning a known point in space or time with a future point

Discovery:  the acts associated with becoming aware of new knowledge

Dissatisfaction:  the unpleasant emotions associated with not satisfying a need or not achieving a goal

Do:  taking action; to perform or execute

Duality:  a system of two parts, combining two things (i.e. two sides of the same coin)

Dynamics:  forces or processes that produce change within a system

E

Engineered (adjective):  to accomplish something in a simple, predictable, systematic way

Empathy:  the ability to experience the feelings, thoughts, and emotions vicariously through imagination

Entrepreneurship:  the acts associated with causing social change (i.e. innovating) by creating:

            (1) a product, service, or business process that solicits people to change some aspect of their lifestyle

            (2) a business to provide the product, service, or business process

            (3) a profit opportunity if what is provided is adopted.

Execution:  the process of taking action targeting the accomplishment of a specific result or outcome

Experience:  knowledge gained from direct contact with the subject matter

F

Facilitate (verb):  to assist the progress towards a goal

Feature:  a prominent or conspicuous characteristic

Frame:  a mental model of a system that limits what we see, filters what we do see, and has these basic characteristics:

(1)   It has boundaries

(2)   It has a context and provides a perspective

(3)   Contains actions, activities, and elements that have a purpose

Friction:  resistance to action or motion 

Frustration:  a feeling of dissatisfaction resulting from unfulfilled needs or unresolved problems

G

Goal:  the result, achievement, or end point of an activity

H

How:  the way or manner of doing something

Hypothesis:  an explanation for something based upon facts or data but not yet proven

I

Idea:  a notion existing in the mind as a result of understanding, awareness, or activity

Imagination:  the ability or act of creating a mental model of something that does not yet exist

Impetus:  the motivation that makes an activity more energetic and effective

Importance:  the significance of a situation

Innovate:  causing change through introducing new solutions (etymology = to change into something new (from Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit))

Innovation:  a new solution that is accepted and adopted, changing behavior that benefits both supplier and customer

Inquiry:  seeking information, knowledge, or truth

Intensity:  a high degree of emotional excitement; depth of feeling

Invention:  the act of creating something new

Issue:  an important unsettled matter

J

Job:  the activity associated with dealing with a problem that is worth making easier; having the primary elements of “What are you doing?”, “How are you doing it?”, “Why are you doing it? (i.e. “What is the goal?”), “Who is doing it?”, “Where is it being done?”, “When is it being done?”, “How often / how much is it being done?”

K

Knowledge:  the state of knowing or understanding a subject or topic

L

Lead (verb):  to show the way; to guide, conduct, or escort

Leadership:  the acts associated with taking people to a place they want to go, have not been before, and wouldn’t go by themselves or without you

Leverage:  the ability to influence people, events, or decisions

Listening:  the ability to accurately receive and interpret information and messaging during a communication process

M

Manage (verb):  to take charge of; to handle, direct, govern, or control

Market:  a particular group of people who buy and use, or might buy and use, a product or service

Marketing:  the act of reaching out to understand and solve customer problems; what they do, want to accomplish, and would like to improve

Methodology:  the principles and procedures of inquiry in a particular field

Momentum:  impetus for a change in position or status

Motivation:  a state or condition characterized by a strong desire to act

Myth:  an unproven belief that is used to justify an action

N

Need:  something required out of necessity

Notion:  a vague or imperfect conception of an idea

Novelty:  something that is new and unusual, not previously experienced, and therefore interesting

O

Opportunity:  a circumstance or situation favorable for attainment of a goal relating to something new

Outcome:  a conclusion, result, or final product

P

Paradox:  a situation that is difficult to understand because it is characterized by opposing characteristics

Pathology:  structural or functional deviations from a normal state

Pattern:  a combination of things having a characteristic arrangement or distinctive form

Performance:  the execution of work and accomplishment of goals

Persuasion:  the act of being influenced or convinced to take action based upon new knowledge

Plan:  a written document that identifies boundary conditions, tasks required, milestones, time frames, and costs to achieve measurable results

Planning:  the process of identifying and linking the activities that must be performed to achieve a goal

Possibility:  something which may or may not be true

Practice:  habitual or customary performance; operation:

Principle:  a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived

Problem:  a matter causing trouble (involving doubt, uncertainty, and / or difficulty, is hard to deal with, and needs attention) and is defined as a gap between the present state and a better future state

Problem Solving:  the process of creating a frame of reference to understand the issues, complexities, and challenges of an unsatisfactory situation leading to the invention of novel solutions

Process:  a systematic series of continuous actions, operations, or series of changes, taking place in a definite manner

Product:  a tangible item that is available for sale

Profession:  any type pf work that requires a high level of skill, education, and experience

Puzzle:  a situation, composed of many parts and pieces, that is difficult to understand

Q

Quality:  the grade or level with respect to excellence

R

Research:  systematic inquiry

Risk:  a hazardous or dangerous situation with a chance of loss

S

Satisfaction:  the pleasant emotions associated with satisfying a need or achieving a goal

Service:  the providing or enabling of activities that satisfy a want

Significance: the quality of being meaningful and important based upon a person’s perception

Situation:  a combination of circumstances describing the state of a system

Skill:  the individual ability to do something well

Solution:  a particular answer, explanation, or object that that resolves a problem

State:  the condition of an area of interest regarding circumstances and attributes

Stymie:  a problem or situation presenting such difficulties as to discourage or defeat any attempt to deal with or resolve

System:  an interdependent group of things forming a unified whole

T

Target:  a goal you intend to achieve or objective you intend to accomplish

Task:  a defined or decomposed piece of work within a plan

Teamwork:  effort in the interest of common cause based upon collaboration, cooperation, and coordinated action

Technical:  characteristic of an art or science

Technology:  the tangible application of technical knowledge based upon art or science

Theme:  the subject area of a topic; an idea that recurs

Theory:  a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:

Threat:  an indication or warning of probable trouble

Trajectory:  forward motion characterized by a direction and angle

Trouble:  (1)  a state or condition of distress, annoyance, or difficulty; a distressing circumstance or occurrence

(2)  something isn’t working for a user and they are not ok with it (causing both a cognitive and emotional response)

U

Uncertainty:  doubt characterized by unpredictability, indeterminacy, or indefiniteness of result

Understanding:  knowledge or familiarity of a thing or subject area

User Experience:  the combination of performance, constraints, utility, and outcomes associated with an activity or product

V

Value:  relative worth, merit, or importance

Velocity:  the rate of change of position or location in a specific direction 

Vision:  an experience of being able to see something that doesn’t physically exist, motivating a person to creative action

W

Want:  something desired or demanded

What:  the nature or identity of something

Why:  the cause or reason for which something is done, accomplished, or achieved