The Innovator’s DNA

To think differently successful innovators act differently. 

This was revealed in a long term, global research project called The Innovator's DNA.  The researchers studied the leaders of successful innovative companies to find out what they did differently than leaders of less innovative companies.  Their findings included:  

• The ability to generate creative ideas is as much a function of behavior as thinking.
• And there are specific behaviors the most successful business innovators practice more often than less innovative leaders.

Each of these behaviors, individually and in combination, increase the ability to make creative new connections: 

Questioning:  asking more questions more often, to better understand what is and what could be.

Observing:  engaging your senses to take in what's working and what isn't, across many different environments.

Networking:  frequently meeting people who are different from you, to learn more about what they know, do and think.

Experimenting:  creating pilot tests and prototypes, to test ideas, develop new insights and share ideas with others.    

The ability to make creative new connections, associating, is a cognitive skill that can be increased by practicing the four behavior skills.

Innovative entrepreneurs who are CEOs spent 50% more time questioning, observing, networking, experimenting and associating than CEOs with no innovation track record.  

Another interesting result?  If you want to increase your ability to think creatively, and encourage creative thinking in others, you only need to practice two or more of these skills more often.  

"Innovation is a habit," the researchers said. "And for these innovative entrepreneurs it's a way of life. It's the fabric of who they are. And for others who aren't that way, they could be: if they choose to act different to think different."

How to Get Unstuck with "Catalytic Questioning"

Ever have one of those challenges you're just sick of thinking about?  Where it seems that you're working too hard, and going nowhere fast?

Catalytic Questioning can help you get unstuck. There's a smart article on it in July's HBR that defines a process you can use individually and with teams. 

In a nutshell, here are the steps:

• Check to make sure all involved are intellectually and emotionally connected to the challenge, and truly don't know how to answer it.
• Sit or (better yet) stand in front of a whiteboard or several sheets of flip chart paper. Pick a scribe.  Before starting, take a breath, relax and set aside any mental distractions.
• One at a time, state a question related to the challenge.  The scribe simply writes each question.  At this stage, only questions are allowed - no explanations, comments or answers.  Each person works to provide interesting, provocative and/or important questions.  At times, the well will run dry.  Stick with it for 10-20 minutes, or until you have 50 - 100 questions.  Find the questions no one's asking ... yet.
• When you've exhausted your ability to define questions, take a quick break or stretch.  Come back and identify the most "catalytic" ones - the ones with the potential to disrupt the status quo, or provide entirely different perspectives or solutions. Narrow it down to the 3-4 that matter most.
• Now that you have 3-4 fresh lines of inquiry, go find some answers!  You can use Catalytic Questioning as often as needed to get unstuck and develop deeper insights and better solutions.

As an executive coach, I've seen over and over again how the right question can unlock new thinking, energy and solutions.  This question storming process can help you do the same.

Anti-Conventional Thinking

Want to try some unusually effective approaches to creative thinking?

Jeffrey Baumgartner studied the way “artists, writers, scientists and other creative geniuses” worked and noticed that they rarely followed the rules for brainstorming or creative problem solving (CPS).  Instead, they used intentionally unconventional approaches. 

They succeeded by using a provocative set of practices he summarized as “Anti-Conventional Thinking” (ACT)”   ACT encourages you to recognize conventional perspectives and then do something purposefully different. 

You can dip your toe in the ACT waters with some of the following practices.

When framing an issue:

If you’re stuck on a stubborn challenge, ask, “What’s a more extreme way to describe our goal?”  

So instead of asking, “How might we improve the customer experience with our services?” ask, “What would make our services as addictive as meth?”  or “How could we make our customers so happy they cry?”

Safer, more conventional ideas simply won’t work with these extreme statements, so you’re compelled to come up with more creative ones.  It’s OK if the provocative statement seems excessive, or if the ideas it prompts seems implausible.  It’s easier to tame down an outrageous but interesting idea than it is to juice up a bland one.

When generating ideas:

Only allow unconventional ideas.  Refuse to write down any conventional ideas.  You’ll get fewer ideas - but they’ll be more creative.

Encouraging respectful criticism of conventional or flawed ideas.  Criticism should be focused only on the idea.  The person giving the idea, and anyone else who’s moved to do so, is encouraged to defend and improve it. Again, you’ll get fewer ideas - but they’ll be better developed.

While brainstorming and CPS focus on generating long lists of raw ideas, anticipating that there will be a few gems in the midst, ACT aims to produce a few unconventional ideas that could have a brilliant impact.

When evaluating ideas:

Highlight the most unconventional ones and make them even better.  Consider potential weaknesses and how they could be addressed.  Find ways to make the ideas even more unconventional, and then identify how to make them work.

In other words, to get something different do something very different.  

Want to learn more?  You can read “ACT in a Nutshell” here.