Podcast: Forward-thinking innovation

Podcast Inglês Online

How have you been? No podcast Inglês Online de hoje eu falo sobre inovação, e um idiom relacionado a pensar pra frente! Não perca.

Transcrição

How have you been? You’re listening to the new episode of the Inglês Online podcast. Download the Inglês Online app at the Google Play Store or the Apple Store – search for “inglês online Ana”. Thank you for telling everyone you know about this podcast and, enjoy!

So, I’m sure you will understand the word ‘innovation’. When a person is prone to innovating or favours innovation in some way, that usually means this person is pretty open to new ideas. They’re interested in learning new things and testing new ways of doing old tasks ’cause… That’s one of the things innovation is about, I think. It’s not just coming up with a new electronic device no one’s ever seen before but it’s also finding new and better ways of doing stuff you already do.

I have to say, I love that concept. I’m all for finding new and better ways of doing things. And just to clarify, “new and better” to me means “easier and less time-consuming”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty demanding, usually, as far as quality is concerned, but if you can find an easier and faster way of accomplishing something without compromising the level of quality that I consider necessary… hey, count me in and sign me up.

I mean, think of the company you work for (in case you have a job.) If you don’t have a job yet… Just wait. Your time will come :-) So, I think anyone who works for a company will be able to relate to this… There are things you do, that you have to do again, periodically… And sometimes you can just tell that there would be an easier way to get it done but – for whatever reason, that “easier way” never gets implemented and every time you have to do that task, you have that feeling of “What a time-waster” or maybe you just go through it mechanically, ’cause you’ve sort of tuned out… You know what I mean?

Maybe you haven’t said anything because any changes would depend on the approval of many other people; maybe it’s because you don’t think the people involved are particularly receptive to new ideas; maybe you just don’t have any spare time for making suggestions, or it may be that you know, you’re not a person who’s particularly inclined to speak up and offer your thoughts.

Let’s go with the opposite idea, though. Let’s say that, after doing this task for a couple of months, it’s pretty clear to you that there’s an easier, faster way of accomplishing it and let’s say you’re pretty fortunate to have a boss who is a very open person and is interested in hearing your suggestions. So, you walk up to your boss one day, when… Let’s say it’s a guy and his name is Gary. So, Gary is hanging by the water cooler and you just walk up to him and explain your idea of how to make this little process simpler and faster, without any compromise to the final result.

Gary says “What a great idea. I’m very pleased to work with someone who’s so forward-thinking. We have been doing things this way for years! Your idea introduces technological innovation to this process, and will make things easier for everyone when we launch our new range of products next year!”. Sounds like a dream boss, right?

So, Gary said you’re forward-thinking. That means thinking ahead but not just in terms of simply planning ahead… It’s more than that. It’s also about anticipating trends, you know… being able to predict that something is going to be useful or successful before that thing exists. In other words, being a bit of a visionary! I think it’s safe to say that people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg – whatever your other opinions about them are – were or are pretty visionary.

Let’s wrap things up with this tweet:

https://twitter.com/JHGreenwoodCo/status/1025035260835315712

Who would you call “a forward-thinking person”? Do you have anyone in your family who is forward-thinking? Let me know and see you soon.

Key expressions

• be forward-thinking

Vocabulary

I’m all for something = ser totalmente a favor de algo/alguma coisa

count me in and sign me up = me inclua, to dentro

you’ve tuned out = você “se desligou”, nem pensa naquilo, apenas faz mecanicamente

spare time = tempo livre

speak up = expressar uma opinião, dizer o que pensa sobre algo

water cooler = bebedouro