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.
