“How” of Innovation

How to Hire for innovation and help teams Become more

Innovative

“Dynamic range of what average person can accomplish and what the best person can

accomplish is 50 to 100:1. That’s why we go for A+ players.”~Steve Jobs

3 things to look for when hiring:•Track record of invention

•T shaped expertise

•Passion to change status quo

Track record of invention

Virgin hires people with these traits:•Cheeky•Honest•Amusing•Questioning•Disruptive•Intelligent•Restless

Google asks: “What is the most beautiful math equation for you?”

Look for T-shaped expertise

Passion for changing

status quo

This is passion!

Billion dollar question - how can I become more innovative myself?

5 behaviors•Questioning

•Observing

•Networking

•Associating

•Experimenting

6 years3000 innovative executives studied

15%most innovative companies – the ones

in which senior execs believe that innovation is their job also

Skill 1: Questioning

“The important and difficult job is never to find the right answer, it is to find the right

questions.”~Peter Drucker

US

“Why a computer costs the 5 times the

sum of its parts?”

“Start-up is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under

conditions of extreme uncertainty” ~Eric Ries

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

And why not?

?

What if?

Tip: hold qst brainstorming session to come up with 50 questions; use whiteboard or post-it notes

Exercise time!

5 Whys?

-Find a partner

-Pick one challenge (commercial risk, V&AT issue etc) and share it

-Partner will ask you “Why” until you got to the core of the issue

-Switch!

Exercise time!

Yes, but….

–everyone stand up & find partner

-ask them about one thing that he/she wants to do

-than say “Yes, but”…

- change partner!

-do it fast, be provocative, play! Change partner and ask a different question, in a constructive way:

…and what if?

Skill 2: Observing

Insights can seduce

Insights break barriers and overcome authority

“Not understanding well external environment is a key to innovation strategy failure”

~Innovation study PWC 2011

Scott Adams,inventor of Dilbert

Can there be a better cubicle for Dilbert?

IDEO created cubicle-based work-space and worked in it for 5 weeks

Result – modular, human-centered, friendly, functional cubicle

“IDEO teams go out to the four corners of the earth and come back with golden keys of

innovation.”~Peter Killman, IDEO

How can we ensure that we spend more time outside of the office with people who’s problems we

are solving ?

How can we learn to capture better insights?

Skill 3: Networking

Internal: Formal Innovation challenges

Internal: Informal lunch or coffee meetings

Visual trumps all senses!

External: entrepreneurs & other companies

How can we connect to & learn from other industries/entrepreneurs?

Skill 4: Associating

Brain is not linear

M for “Music”?

Brain works by creating new connections between neurons (new networks)

Explore!

Be Fascinated, not interested!

Some ideas for feeding your mind

with ideas

IDEO Deep Dives

Skill 5: Experiment

A/B test Pilot/prototypes

Test fast. Fail. Improve

“If you build a prototype, other people will help you”

How can we do more pilots quickly ?

Dropbox prototype was a video!

5 behaviors•Questioning (5 Why, Why not, What if)

•Observing (go out)

•Networking (internal formal and informal & external)

•Associating (team deep dive after first 3 phases, other industries)

•Experimenting (pilots, testing key hypothesis quickly)

What are some of the things you

can do to start innovating more? Top 3?