I’ve talked at length about how companies aiming to attract innovators to their organization shoot themselves in the foot, because the culture they have doesn’t embrace innovation. Still, let’s ask: How do you hire innovators?
To help answer that question from the perspective of an innovator, the University of Texas conducted a study last year and they asked me to take part. They’ve yet to share the results with me, but I’m jumping the gun and sharing my thoughts with you.
You can tell whether a business has innovation potential by the way it leads and its priorities; both are critical measures of innovation. The first one, leadership, I’ll focus on here.
in Creativity, Innovation
I love LEGO and supercars! From the department of “WOW” here’s something that will blow your mind. LEGO is well-known for building life-size objects of anything they can imagine. But I think they’ve topped themselves with a life-size driveable version of the Bugatti Chiron!
I’ve always believed that the best way to brainstorm is a hybrid of thinking by ourselves and then sharing that with a group to build on each other’s ideas; as opposed to brainstorming with a group from the start.
What does a culture of innovation look like? Last week I gave a talk at an event on the foundations of a culture of innovation. Instead of telling you what a culture of innovation looks like (they’re all different but share habits), I focus on what all organizations do to impede it.
In the innovation space, too much focus is placed on methods, not enough on mindset. Tools are the methodologies, mindset is the habits. One of my colleagues recently told me he’s learned about mentality, not processes, in the time he’s spent working with me. He’s right! I can give you the methods, but they don’t matter if you don’t have the habits.
