The Innovator's DNA - HBR
For all you creative-types out there…being “creative” isn’t enough to be “innovative.” According to the latest Harvard Business Review, a study completed by professors from Harvard Business School, Insead and Brigham Young University have just completed a six-year study of more than 3,000 executives and 500 innovative entrepreneur.
This study shows true innovators inherently share five skills that separate them from everyone else; associating, questioning, observing, experimenting and networking. These skills aren’t just a gift, true innovators just don’t practice these skills this is how they live. Insead’s Hal Gregersen sums it up simply in an article by Mark Tutton, of CNN:
“What the innovators have in common is that they can put together ideas and information in unique combinations that nobody else has quite put together before.”
FIVE KEYS TO INNOVATION
Associating: The ability to connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems or ideas from different fields.
Questioning: Innovators constantly ask questions that challenge the common wisdom. They ask “why?”, “why not?” and “what if?”
Observing: Discovery-driven executives scrutinize common phenomena, particularly the behavior of potential customers.
Experimenting: Innovative entrepreneurs actively try out new ideas by creating prototypes and launching pilots.
Networking: innovators go out of their way to meet people with different ideas and perspectives.
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