Gurps Rai and a Perspective on the Role of Innovation in Driving Entrepreneurship

Studies have shown that upscaling a company’s creativity by 5 percent can result in as much as a 50 percent boost in its bottom line as well as shareholder value. In a business world characterized by fast adoption of technology, increased complexity, disruptions, and stiff competition, honing innovative skills and creativity is becoming a major focus by many enterprises and companies. Creativity is one rare quality of human resources that is free and renewable. Companies that can leverage this potential in their employees are more likely to create enormous changes in their operations and steer their profitability. Innovation is thus a simple, non-automated human capability that is at the heart of sustainable businesses. 

Defining Innovation

When many people think about the term innovation, they form impressions of people glued on machines and laptops in laboratories trying to come up with new things. With this feeling, many people working in organizations or settings outside of laboratories may think that innovation doesn’t apply to them. Various definitions point out that innovation is the application of skills, experience, and competencies in coming up with completely new ways of performing something. Perhaps this is why Josh Linkner once said that innovation finds enormous applications in virtually all spheres of life. 

Applications of Innovation

A survey conducted by Microsoft on leading American, Asian, and European business decision-makers and executives showed that 74 percent of these people agreed that innovation is not just an exception but a “must-have” component. What’s more, a company’s innovativeness must be seen to be functional and resilient for a business to achieve great results. A separate study indicated that 98 percent of leading enterprises with a strong and resilient innovation culture believe that innovation and creativity are the key ingredients needed to help businesses respond with speed to market dynamics and seize opportunities. Companies that can respond quickly to extreme challenges such as the prevailing health crisis due to coronavirus are four times likely to recover faster than those that still lag behind in terms of creativity. 

As the country and the world at large continue to grapple with the harsh realities brought about by COVID-19, more than 70% of organizations say that they need innovation more than ever before in order for them to react quickly, effectively, and efficiently to the market challenges. In addition, innovation is what will determine just how businesses will seize opportunities and ensure that they stay afloat. A majority of businesses whose innovation culture has matured contend that innovation is an essential aspect that will help entrepreneurs navigate the ever-increasing and complex crisis. 

Gurps Rai’s Perspective on Innovation

Gurps Rai is a globally recognized entrepreneur, keynote speaker on the concept of innovation and its inherent ability to jumpstart businesses and drive them towards success. He has been instrumental in advising senior company executives and business leaders of some of the most successful fortune companies. Innovation is all about the mindset and problem-solving skills, all of which can be leveraged to bolster business performance in financial management, operations, procurement, marketing, sales, and other core functional areas of an organization.

“Suppose an organization can unlock the creativity of its team of staff. In that case, they literally loosen the nuts that hold the engine of success from taking off and speeding towards achieving progress,” says Gurps Rai. Creative, flexible staff fuel positive growth and give their company a competitive advantage.

Gurps Rai believes that leveraging the ability to be more creative and innovative helps business leaders grow into resilient executives capable of helping their enterprises recover faster.