Innovator: what does it take to be one?

Innovation continues to be an ever-more-critical issue as the global economy expands: it determines organizational sustainability. This paper addresses the issues of whether you want to become an innovator and how to become an innovator, from the innovator's perspective. Research on innovation has not provided a theory of innovation. The process of innovation continues to depend on the individual and the environment in which the innovator functions. This paper characterizes the scope and complexity of being the innovator, presents a set of concepts that can be applied in formulating, evaluating, and implementing innovation, considers the skills for dealing with technological uncertainty, and defines the issues that determine success or failure. There are no recipes for becoming the innovator, but there are basics that must be followed. This paper presents an overview of innovation, discusses types of innovation, provides insight to the innovation process, describes what it takes to be an innovator, considers the issues in overcoming resistance to innovation, and explains why innovators fail.