Why I Believe in Innovation From Within: A Personal Story of Listening and Learning (it includes Hotels and Maps!)
Innovation doesn’t always come from grand ideas or high-priced consultants. Sometimes, it starts small—often born out of frustration with inefficiencies in everyday work. This is my experience.
Innovating from Within
We’ve all heard Bill Gates’ famous line about hiring a lazy person to do a difficult job because they’ll find the easiest way to do it. While I don’t consider myself lazy, I’ve learned that when employees face inefficiencies, they naturally find solutions that are simpler, faster, and more effective. This is where real innovation begins.
My Wonderbox Experience: Where I discovered how it feels good to give ideas - and see them implemented
A few years ago, I worked at Wonderbox, a company offering premium stay gift boxes. I was responsible for prospecting hotel partnerships in southern Germany. At the same time, I was studying geospatial intelligence in a post-graduate program. And I noticed something: the way we were identifying potential hotel partners was inefficient - sometimes we had too many hotels in a small city, and no partner hotels in a larger, more interesting city.
I was tasked with zooming in on hotels through booking websites, but I felt there had to be a better way. That’s when I started using Google My Maps to visualize the hotels we could target: I’d download a list of my Salesforce leads, and then one by one search for them on Google (until I found a .xml faster way for that too!)
It was a simple idea, but it worked. So, I shared it in a team meeting. My manager was thrilled and asked for a detailed tutorial. Eventually, the CEO heard about it and asked me to formalize it into a URS (User Requirement Specification) for development. What started as a small fix for my job became a company-wide tool.
Looking back, that small innovation was a small step towards how I lead my career now. It taught me that the smallest ideas can lead to significant innovations when employees are encouraged to share their insights.
Why Employees Hold the Key to Innovation
Here’s the thing: employees don’t like wasting time. They’re on the frontlines, facing inefficiencies daily. When they find a solution, it’s often because they’ve identified a problem nobody else has noticed.
Listening to your employees can lead to innovations that save time, money, and resources. It’s not always about the latest tech—sometimes, it’s about optimizing what’s already there. When employees are empowered to improve their processes, they’re not just workers; they become active contributors to innovation.
The Bill Gates "Lazy Employee" Lesson
Now, back to Bill Gates and his “lazy employee” philosophy.
The heart of that story isn’t about laziness at all! It’s about efficiency. When people are empowered to solve their own problems, they’re going to find the quickest, smartest, and most effective solution. And it often doesn’t require outside consultants or high-priced tools. Most of the time, it just requires listening to the people who are already doing the work.
I’ve seen firsthand how a simple idea can transform a company’s workflow, from Wonderbox to Bridgestone. And I’m convinced that the best ideas don’t always come from the top—they come from within. So, let’s keep listening, keep encouraging, and keep innovating.
I’m thrilled to be co-hosting a series of Intrapreneurship sessions on ADP List with Bohdan Yeromenko, and I believe it’ll be an empowering experience for anyone looking to innovate from within their organization.
Ready to join us? Sign up for our upcoming sessions (more to be scheduled!):
🔸 #1 Innovate & Change: Intrapreneurship Essentials
📅 October 15
🔸 #2 Innovate & Change: #2 Finding the right problem
📅 October 29
Head over to ADP List and sign up now! Let’s explore how you can lead change from within.
