Today I was reading an article on CNN.com “Learn the five secrets of innovation,” and it got me to wondering. As creative professionals, we innovate all the time, but let’s see if we already possess the knowledge and skills mentioned in this article.
Professors from Harvard Business School, Insead, and Brigham Young University recently completed a six-year study of more than 3,000 executives and 500 innovative entrepreneurs, including Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell, to identify five skills that separate the “blue-sky innovators” from the rest. Those are:
- Associating
- Questioning
- Observing
- Experimenting
- Discovering
What they found was those blue-sky innovators had a unique way of putting information and observation together to form new ideas. As creative professionals, we are doing that on a day-to-day basis. We might see a color that inspires us to create a new product line. We might see something in nature that encourages us to design a product in a new way. We might talk to people in our diverse network to observe how they do things to see how we might adapt them to our situation.
When looking more deeply at this study, the professors determined that associating was more than just thinking outside the box, it was also deeply based on how those leaders acted on ideas. It’s more active. They talk to a diverse group of people to formulate new ideas. They take an active approach to idea generation and decision-making. For these types of people, everything is to be experimented with.
It makes me think about my brother and when we were children how he used to take things apart all the time and put them back together, and not necessarily the same way they were originally. To this day, I think he is so creative. In the traditional sense, yes he can draw and has great ideas. His ability to see a solution to a complex situation that may not have been so obvious before, however, is his amazing talent.
Questioning, the researchers believe, should be done over a 30-day period. When a new idea is presented, spend 30 days writing 10 questions a day about this subject at hand. During that time the questions will change and so will the approach to the problem.
Now, you may not have 30 days to think about your next creative project and to write 10 questions a day about it. But, you can certainly take 30 minutes and to the exercise. Bring in your creative friends to help you out. Host a conference call with the client. Their answers and insight may enlighten you to go down a new path or solidify a path you’ve already considered.
Watching other people work can enhance observation skills. Spend time with others to see how they solve problems and derive solutions. It also helps you to see the types of issues they are dealing with to develop the best solutions for their needs. Focus groups are invaluable for this kind of learning. It also works really well with children.
How often do you go into a bookstore and venture into a new area just to see what’s there? Depending on how often you do this, you may already possess the skills of experimentation. Experimenting with different knowledge bases helps you to build your inquisitive mind set. You might experiment with food, wine, books, music, art…whatever your interests are. For those people who venture into a variety of areas, you are more likely to experiment with new ideas versus just towing the line.
The idea of discovery aligns nicely with experimentation. You may find that taking your children to a children’s museum opens your mind to new things. Attending seminars on new topics and reading new genres also helps to keep your mind active.
This takes me back to my early college days when I had to attend humanities courses. I had no idea what humanities were. But those courses were among the most interesting courses I attended. I never skipped those courses because they opened my mind to something new. I also took geology courses and some things a little off the beaten path. My undergraduate degree is in mass communication.
What I’m getting at here is that as a creative professional you have probably already learned the five secrets to innovation. Some of you may have been born with an inquisitive mind; others may have learned these skills along the way.
The researchers in the article believed all these skills can be learned. I agree.
So go out there and associate, question, observe, experiment, and discover new things. You never know how the knowledge might come in handy on your next creative project.
Ciao!
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