The Red Sox win the World Series. Again.
The topic of innovation gets a lot of play in the various forms of philosophy, theory and best practices. The Red Sox of 2013 remind us that all great things are accomplished by human beings.
Theory and process are fine but it takes -somebody- to implement them to make it a reality.
Innovation is not easy. It takes a great deal of hard work to bring an idea to life. The Red Sox started off the season with low expectations and were even picked to finish at the bottom of their division. They were coming off a bad year and may not have been blessed with the most obvious wealth of talent, but went about their business and put in the effort to make the most of what they had. You can argue the limited offensive output during the World Series (excluding MVP David Ortiz) was a matter of luck or timing, but without the hard work put in all season long, they could have easily ended up on the losing side. The Red Sox know well enough that hard work is only a first step in achieving great things and that you can't expect to reach your goals without it.
Hard work does not pay off unless you stick with it. Perseverance is key. Refusing to quit at the first sign of doubt or setbacks. Baseball happens to use a rather thorough documentation of failure. Sabermetrics are touted as an innovative approach to determine value in a players performance but only serve to highlight how difficult it actually is to achieve results. The numbers prove that batters routinely fail far more than they succeed. Yet, they continue to step up to the plate in the face of continuous failure.
It is the same for bringing an innovative idea to market. There will be more doubters and many good reasons for -why- something won't work. But nothing gets done unless you continue to try. By trying, you learn something. Each time. You put that learning to work and keep at it when everyone tells you it's easier to quit. And that's how great things get done. The Red Sox had to deal with a number of challenges and setbacks this year but kept grinding it out each step of the way. And by sticking with it they ended up with the ultimate reward.
Innovation is about people more than technology. Ideas are great, but it takes people -and- hard work to get things done. It sure is nice when the effort pays off. Let's just remember who is responsible. The Red Sox showed they have their priorities in the right place. And the results to make it worthwhile.