THE INNOVATOR'S ATTITUDE

A monthly newsletter with the objective of helping leaders innovate profitably by providing them with best practices, models, and different perspectives.

On Differentiating Innovation and Improvement

Have you ever daydreamed whilst gazing at the cloudy sky?

Perhaps you noticed those whitish, fluffy, almost cotton-like clouds? You know, the ones we like to play associations with? “This is a cat!” “No, it’s a heart!” Those clouds are known as cumulus.

On the other hand, those dense, bunched-up greyish ones which seem much closer than they really are, are better known as stratus. And those long, flat, and hazy clouds which look like somebody smeared them over the sky are better known as cirrus. Fun fact: the latter are usually made of ice crystals.

Luke Howard, an amateur meteorologist, identified and named three above mentioned cloud categories—cumulus, stratus, and cirrus—in the 19th century. He did so by meticulously documenting the weather, and consequently, analysing all the collected data. Based on that he came up with a system of names.