The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has opened an abbreviated festival-within-a-festival program. In a bold step forward, the organization has inserted a festival within the festival, a separate awards ceremony and a specific emphasis on innovation.

Data, technology and ideas will be celebrated in their multiple combinations, to demonstrate that lines have blurred and borders do not exist today. Is anyone out there surprised?

The implausible thing is to see the passivity with which many companies, organizations, institutions and individuals look at competitive, innovative and aggressive pressure. Too often we see that they continue to think about more of the same. Have they not realized the speed of change? What kind of planet are they living on?

I am very clear that when I get on a plane, the last thing I want is an innovative pilot. Certainly when it comes to repairing the brake fibers in an automobile, I have no desire to have a creative mechanic attend to it… at least not for that precise task. However, airplanes are being revamped and so are cars, with technology and resources combining to deliver performance that was unthinkable until recently.

So, the obligatory questions: How are you innovating, how are you allowing creativity to ignite new forms and content? Let’s establish a basic condition and recognize that it must be an intentional, directed and focused effort. That way it will be better and more effective.

No one is exempt in this matter. It is innovation or extinction.