Creativity needs both small leaps and big leaps. The small leaps keep things moving, but are often only enough to keep you competitive. The big leaps are needed to make creativity worthwhile for a business, because they often give you a market advantage.
Why don’t the cumulative small leaps do the same as the big new innovations? Sometimes they can where other competitors are not innovating at all, or where a small leap suddenly becomes a big leap because of the technical skill required to move things forward. Unfortunately, though, many times the small innovations can add clutter and unnecessary functions the clients and customers just don’t want from the market. You are then doing innovation for its own sake, and not for any business advantage.
Finally, there is a psychological reason for big leaps. Part of our brain gets used to how things are, and stops paying attention. So if you are only making small changes and tweaks, your brain thinks this is more of the same and ignores it. But when you produce an innovation that really wows someone and catches their attention, you can grab market share and take a leap ahead of your competitors.
