Innovation is not immaculate conception, it is a process. To be honest, its a process that tends to be enjoyable when done properly; a kin to the opposite of immaculate conception I guess.

So what can we learn from the "original" innovation. Ug and Thug sitting around a freshly hunted saber-tooth [insert current living animal with large Flintstone teeth here]. Though Ug and Thug loves themselves a good carpaccio, they where several thousand years away from the invention of tuffle oil; so each bite was definitely lacking that je ne sais quoi.

Then it hit them. Lightning. Literally.

So Ug drags himself off the ground to see Thug smoking a little bit still. And it appears his loin cloth is smoldering. Ug, the curious pre-neanderthal, touches the smoldering loin cloth and in a wave of hot and pain, he has a flash of brilliance (not quite as bright, mind you as the flash he had just experienced). Fire....that could be good. And the first innovation had occurred.

So how the hell do two semi-nude, electrically conductive cavemen translate to metaphor the innovation process? The fire.

Fire - it doesn't just happen out of nowhere (though Ug and Thug may disagree). For anyone who has ever built a fire off in the woods they know fire building is a process.

First comes the spark. Bright, glowing, but ultimately a short lived experience. Thin, brittle and sparse, some sort of catch is needed to turn a single spark into a smolder. Slowly building from the thin pine needles, to dry leaves, to thin branches, to thick branches - the fuel for the spark slowly begins to solidify, take shape and structure. Soon a flame has been born.

Innovation is no different. I would gather that everyday, everyone has one idea on how to improve something; whether its their bacon and egger sandwich in the morning, or how to reduce the electrical conductivity of a pre-Cambrian loin cloth. The problem is, with out the right kindling surrounding these sparks - they fade as fast as they arrive.

So you take that idea and let it out of your head - to other people, to paper, to somewhere. Suddenly the spark has solidified; and you can start adding structure to the idea - growing it to a stable idea and soon to a full fledge inferno of action.

But just like a flame, when at is brightest, it needs the most tending - fuel continually added, someone always tending it, and catching sparks that fall outside the hearth.

I hope this exploration of this process - how to take a single spark to sustainable flame - a development of understanding of who and what makes the flint, the steel, the kindling, who tends the flame and those who try to douse it.

And of course the continuing story of Ug and Thug.