Coming up with an innovation is important. But, it is often only the first step toward success. The challenging next step is: making change happen.
Some ten years back, I came up with a business process centric approach to architect user interfaces for business software. Prospects and customers loved it, but I was faced with the daunting task of getting software teams to change from their traditional technology centric approach.
This switching demanded a fundamental change in how people thought about enterprise needs, business software, and software projects. It required them to fit the new approach and a new-breed practitioner into their existing software process.
Thankfully, change did happen (and I learned such big lessons at the School of Hard Knocks that I've been doing some preaching too on the topic!).
Well, this is just a first-hand experience that shows how innovations drive change. Lots of other great examples exist in literature.
What does this mean to the innovator? Be ready to lead change.