The Skunk Works

As necessity mothers invention, 
razor-thin resources father innovation.

Been said before: invention and innovation aren't synonyms. Full stop. 

Take something that has been existing for centuries,
and give it a new use or application no one else did.

Innovate by seeing new ways of doing what's been done, 
not by creating new things out of air.

The early-stages are dense, disorganized, erratic.
Hacky, stressful, energetic. 

All spicy ingredients,
marinated with the need for survival, 
make the dish overly tasty.

The enemy is inertia.
It creeps. Moves up slowly.

Everything becomes more difficult to start.
Worse: more difficult to stop.

Innovation languishes when the underdog ceases to be. 
When the pirates join the navy.

When the skunk: smelly, disheveled, bankrupt, hungry and sharp,
morphs into a peacock: flashy, presumptuous. Well-fed and dull.

Never let the skunk go missing.

Keep it alive.

Release it from time to time,
scare the peacocks in the room.