Innovation is everywhere, constantly changing, progressing and regressing ideas and technologies within society today and throughout history. Last Monday, February the 10th, myself along with a few of my peers–Sterling Foster, Ramey Brinkman, and Ashtyn Caldwell–sat down and interviewed four different individuals, chosen by Dr. Elaine Steyn, about the importance of innovation and the role it has played in their own careers.

Katie Richie, the Brand and Partnership Manager for Gathering Place, a privately funded non-profit park in Tulsa, Oklahoma, spoke a lot about the impacts innovation has had on herself, the success of the Gathering Place, and some of the challenges that can accompany innovation and change. She began by telling us her inexpressibly gratitude for the Gathering Place and all it has done for her, being her first and only job so far in her career out of college. As a result of this being her first job and joining on the ground floor, she spoke to us about some of the challenges that came with this. The first initial challenge that came with the Gathering Place became the location of the site, being located “in a very affluent area of Tulsa. It’s a safe and wonderful area of Tulsa. But the issue with that is that it did not make it feel like everybody was, like, welcome in the park.” She tells us that this can be attributed to the “broken history, especially when it comes to race, and diversity was not a thing that was celebrated here.” She tells us that they first combatted this challenge by first hosting cultural events that “I don’t want to use the word pandering to specific audiences, but that’s what it really came to feel like. Which was a lot more inauthentic than we had predicted.” She explains how different groups only felt welcome during those special events, which was the opposite intention of the park but also a “beautiful way to just learn about how the community responds to these different invitations.” To combat this she tells us that “The solution was to include people based on demographics other than race and culture.” Including people in ways that connected them through other areas rather than cultural is where they saw the most success. She goes on to explain that “sure, it took five years to get there, but that’s part of being innovative and starting something new is just responding to the changes that you see.”

This story is important to understanding innovation through the lens that it takes time and that the answers don’t always come immediately. Although there were multiple different innovations made and the solution was not always clear, by seeking new ideas, innovation will prevail. This can be achieved by understanding the importance of patience and responding to changes in the creative process.

Armand McCoy, currently a faculty member in Advertising at Gaylord College and serves as Executive Director/Faculty Advisor to Lindsey + Asp, with a very long resume working with Trifecta Communications, United Nations Foundations, and local government of the City of Moore; spoke to us about his experience with innovation and change within his career. Part of understanding innovation is seeing where it has gone wrong, as I highlighted with Richie’s experience at the Gathering Place, for McCoy where he has seen innovation gone wrong is when you misunderstand/misinterpret the culture. He spoke a lot on “the importance of in innovation, taking the time to.. make sure…are all the right people at the table?” When making decisions, as he discusses, taking the time to really step back and look at situations through multiple perspectives, understanding the potential success and pitfalls of a new idea, is crucial to understanding innovation. He tells us to “slow down, do your research, read the tea leaves. And now if you like something a whole lot, you know, sit on it for like two or three weeks and if you still feel good about it, if everything sizes up, then you can march forward.”

Through both Richie and McCoy we can broaden our understanding of innovation, understanding that it is not an overnight process or always a eureka moment. The importance of the community and culture cannot be understated, as understanding their perspective is crucial in the innovative process. To understand this process, according to Richie and McCoy, it takes time and often you wont get it right on the first, or maybe even the second try, but through this trial comes the true process of innovation.