Open-mindedness: Bullsh*t or Superpower? Forget charisma, forget vision. The one quality truly separating innovation rockstars from the mediocre is a shockingly underrated superpower: open-mindedness.
Tag Archives: Innovation
“That’s The Way We’ve Always Done It!” Is A Sign That Your Business Needs To Change
Continuous improvement. Every leader wants it, yet most businesses believe they’re improving when they’re just doing business the way they’ve always done them. And this is where decay starts. Innovation has many enemies. One of them is an aversion to change. This plays out in an organization when people say “That’s the way we’ve always done it”.
Marc Andreessen: The 5 Personality Traits of An Innovator
Are all innovators alike? Yes, in both personality and skills. Anyone can learn the skills necessary to innovate, but personality traits are different. Some people are born with highly developed curiosity, openness to new ideas and experiences, risk-taking, persistence, and imagination.
The Death Ground Strategy: Create A Sense of Urgency
Happy New Year! I want to set the tone for the 2024 first post this year: Acting with a sense of urgency.
There is no better way to do that than fighting with your back against the wall. This is called the death-ground strategy. Though initially a military tactic, this ancient strategy holds profound implications for personal and professional growth. The Death-Ground Strategy is based on placing oneself in a ‘do or die’ situation, where failure is not an option. In such scenarios, people often find untapped reservoirs of courage, determination, and focus.
The Curious Spark: Why Uncommon Insights Ignite Innovation
Imagine a world where every invention was predictable, every solution a mere derivative of what came before. Shudder, right? Innovation thrives on insights, those unexpected sparks illuminating new possibilities and guiding us toward groundbreaking ideas.
Seeing Opportunities Through the 4 Lenses of Innovation
Ideas don’t matter, execution does. Yes, of course. Ideas by themselves don’t have value unless they’re grounded on a unique insight or perspective. How do you generate unique ideas? Let’s look at four approaches from the book The 4 Lenses of Innovation: A Power Tool for Creative Thinking by Rowan Gibson.
The Blinding Power of Assumptions: How They Block Opportunities
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a business partner that served as a stark reminder of the dangers of assumptions. We were preparing for a visit to a prospective client, an industrial laundry owner, and I outlined my goals for the visit.