Tag Archives: Jeff Dyer

The Innovators DNA: Interview with Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen

innovator's dna

A few weeks ago, I got the chance to interview the authors of the bestselling innovation book, The Innovator’s DNA.  Below is the transcript of what I was able to record from our call.

Before, here is short bio of each author:

Hal Gregersen is the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Chair of Innovation and Leadership at INSEAD and Jeff Dyer is the Horace Beesley Professor of Strategy at BYU’s Marriott School of Management. They are co-authors of The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators and most recently worked together on Innovator’s Accelerator, an online executive education experience designed to develop individuals’ and organizations’ innovation skills.

To foster innovation, what type of network do I need to create?

question to innovate

This the seventeenth of a series of weekly posts where I will answer a few common questions about innovation. Please feel free to add your own response. Also, if you have any questions you think we should discuss, let me know.

One thing every innovator needs is access to people who can help him with specific knowledge and resources. And, social media can enable innovation in a variety of ways. Explicitly, one that is rarely talked about is that you can meet people from different backgrounds and collaborate. It is an opportunity to pick people’s brains in a very interactive and transparent way.

Twitter and LinkedIn are such networks that serve this purpose. Cultivating a network that provides you with insights and ideas is incredibly, and it is something every person and organization needs to do if it wants to come up with breakthrough ideas.

Five discovery skills that drive innovation

A few years ago Christensen, Clayton M.; Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen published some research where they outlined the five discovery skills that drive innovation in both individuals and organizations. These five skills are illustrated below (via WSJ):