Adaptation As Innovation
By Les Mottosky
Westerners have experienced remarkable and increasing comfort for 75 years. It's been the driving force behind much of the innovation over that time. Beyond the business incentives, it's also a generous expression of human ingenuity attempting to reduce our friction in a complex world.
But what if friction is the fuel of life?
In part, comfort is seductive because it's marketed as progress. Softer beds, faster food, smarter devices — all designed to smooth out the irritants in our day. Yet every layer of creature comfort distances us a little further from the raw experience of being alive. We no longer need to walk to the store, chop wood, or even remember phone numbers. Our muscles, memories, patience and strength atrophy under the weight of ease.
In response, stress, anxiety and disconnection rise. The more comfortable we become, the more restless we feel. Comfort's benefit quickly becomes a liability. Are we trading the razor's edge of existence for the dull ache of stagnation? Have we forgotten our nervous systems crave resistance the same way our bodies crave exercise? Friction builds what comfort erodes: strength, character, adaptability and ingenuity.
But these two competing concepts of comfort and friction aren't mutually exclusive. They can co-exist. They are co-existing. Marathons every where have more participants than ever. (The Cocodona 250 – ten marathons run over 40 hours! – has sold out the last 3 years). The numbers and types of technical running shoes has exploded in response. Ice baths outnumber sensory depravation tanks 10:1. (Their respective manufacturers, 4:1). The challenging pursuits of camping, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing and ice climbing all have up-and-to-the-right growth.
The market responds to fill the needs of those looking to temporarily escape the anesthetics of modern life. This is adaptive innovation; progress in service to pursuits of the human spirit. These inventions support the adaptations allowing us to (re)discover who we are.
Many have come to realize that we were not designed to live in perpetual softness. The species that survived ice ages, crossed oceans, and built civilizations did so through effort. Uncomfortable effort. Many more confuse the reduction of suffering with the elimination of challenge. And in doing so, we might have begun eliminating ourselves.
This isn't designed malevolence. Most innovators and consumers are simply doing the wrong things for the right reasons.
Comfort is wonderful in small doses, but too much is numbing us. Humans require something to work toward. We need challenge. It provides meaning. And the depth of that meaning is determined by the intensity of the friction overcome in the challenge.
To get us cooking with meaningful 21st century progress, the next frontier of innovation will focus on helping us adapt. Instead of making life easier, it will make comfort an option.
Without friction, there’s no fire. And without fire, nobody's cooking.
TAGS: #Adaptation As Innovation #Radical Reframe #Cultural Creativity #Anti-Comfort #Wisdom In Leadership
Les Mottosky
Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.
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