Inspiration is an extremely important emotion
to innovate and flourish in our terminology and language businesses.
If we manage to create a „WOW effect“ with our terminology strategy,
with our tools and projects, we won.
Then we have excellent changes to embed and implement
terminology management in the business processes of our
organization.
If terminology management is part of the business processes
(such as quality management processes, innovation or knowledge
management processes, ideally product development processes, etc.)
it‘s sustainable, has an allocated budget and will be done long after
the last full time terminologist retired.
Business as usual is not an option any longer.
The markets are saturated, even in the booming language
industry we‘ll see even more competition and price fight.
We know from our competitors and many company failures
that we can‘t oversleep innovations and can‘t win price fights
for too long.
We can only win and survive with outstanding quality, excellent
customer relationship management and cool new products people
LOVE to buy and to use.
So let‘s get inspired by the excellence of products, by the craziness
and braveness of successful people and businesses.
There are so many examples out there – just think about SDL/Trados.
Trados started as highly innovative result of a very small
European project co-financed by the European Union.
SDL/Trados today is a hugh company and world market leader
who is continuously improving and enlarging its product portfolio.
It always seems impossible until it‘s done –
that‘s my favourite quote from Nelson Mandela.
I‘ll give you an example from my own organization:
When TermNet initiated an international certificate for
terminology professionals 8 years ago, people were skeptical,
doubting whether there would be a market for such a niche product.
Immediately after the launch of this certificate with a first exam
in 2010, I got a phone call from European Central Bank asking if we
could also do in-house trainings to make their experts fit to qualify as
„ECQA Certified Terminology Manager“.
Since then, EU institutions, companies and organizations from all over
the world sent their people to our online courses and face-to-face
Terminology Summer Schools to qualify for that certificate.
Many success stories are like that: if you get inspired by others,
if you are committed and if you really believe in your project,
you are irresistible and will succeed with your undertaking.
Let´s get inspired by innovation and by exnovation – What´s that?
Exnovation is the process of eliminating the unsustainable,
irrelevant or unsuitable to constantly improve and renew the
innovation process.1
What does that mean?
How can we eliminate the unsustainable, irrelevant or unsuitable –
how can we learn to unlearn?
I’ll give you an example of a crazy Austrian entrepreneur who
revolutionized the manufacturing of chocolate.
With the hand-scooped chocolates the creative chocolate maker
from Riegersburg (Austria, Styria) has managed to upset our familiar
view of the world of chocolate.
Bacon Bits in chocolate, Pumpkin Seeds with Marzipan and Apples
and Carrots with Ginger surrounded by chocolate.
The chocolate revolution started: novel flavour combinations,
a new format, art as packaging and the transformation of
delicacies into green food.
20 years of chocolate history Mr Zotter filled with a tremendous
amount of creations, crazy ideas and the rebellion against the mainstream.
So what is one crazy thing he did for innovation?
It’s his “cemetery of ideas” where he buries bad ideas –
where he eliminates the unsustainable, irrelevant or unsuitable
to constantly improve and renew the innovation process.
Plenty of varieties are annually added to the assortment
whilst others disappear and end up on the Cemetery of Ideas.
The Cemetery of Ideas exists in reality: In the Edible Zoo
(another provocative innovation), Sepp Zotter has set
gravestones for past chocolate varieties and ideas.
And if some visitors grieve over the variety, Zotter resurrects
the most popular former varieties for a short while, such as the
wonderful combinations “Pink Coconut and Fish Marshmallow”
or “Penuts and Ketchup” Chocolate.
Mmmmm, jummmie, ENJOY!
All the best,
Stay crazy and brave,
Gabriele
Head of the TermNet Group
P.S.: This blog post is part of the TermNet Anniversary Challenge,
series “The Top 10 Must Haves in Terminology”: #8 Inspiration
1 Kimberly, J. R. (University of Pennsylvania) and Evanisko, M. J. 1981: Organizational innovation: The influence of individual, organizational and contextual factors on hospital adoption of technological and administrative innovation.
