innovation culture

Minds for the Future

I'm reading Howard Gardner's latest book, Five Minds for the Future.  His premise is that we need to cultivate these minds to be successful in the future.  The minds are: Disciplinary Mind (being good in at least one discipline), Synthesizing Mind (ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines), Creating Mind (ability to uncover new questions, ideas, and phenomena), Repsectful Mind (awareness and appreciation of the differences among human beings), and Ethical Mind (fulfilling one's responsibilities as a citizen.)  It's a good read and very much related to my work with the Kellogg Foundation because it calls into question what we assume education is for.  And while I haven't finished it yet, he seems to make a good case that our educational system is a bit out of date.

Stanford's Entrepreneur Corner

Almost as compelling as the TED video archive, the Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner offers insightful videos from both well-known valley entrepreneurs and leaders as well as some not so well known ones.  I recently found out about Steve Blank who authored "Four Steps to the Epiphany," a highly regarded book about guiding a successful startup.  One idea that struck me right away is Steve's Customer Development Process. 

Why "Culture of Innovation"

As I explain to others what I am trying to accomplish in the book I'm writing, the notion of "the culture of innovation" seems to capture it. It feels right, but I'm not sure if it will resonate with people. Culture seems to be the right term -- better than what a lot of the innovation literature focus on which is process, method, techniques, etc. Those are important, but my primary hypothesis is that many companies fail to shape new offerings successfully not because they lack the knowledge or skills necessary, but because they lack the mindset and beliefs. So I finally had the chance to look up the definition of culture. Here it is from Wikipedia: "Culture generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance."

The Wisdom of the Crowd

I have been listening to and re-listening to the audiobook version of James Surowiecki's  The Wisdom of the Crowd.  I'll be making a variety of posts that explore the key concepts of the book and why they are so relevant to creative work. Similar to other books like Innovator's Behavior or Made To Stick, most people hear about the notions or read quick synopses of them and may not understand the principles to a depth where they really apply them to their own work.  In short, the Wisdom of the Crowd holds fundamental principles for anyone wishing to be a successful innovator.  There are four essential qualities to "crowds" that make them good for certain kinds of problems.  They are:

Creative Work

Ever since I started mowing lawns as a kid to make a little money, I've approached my work in a creative way. I've come to recognize this in doing the research for my book and reflecting on my career of teaching, consulting, and professional skulduggery. In mowing lawns for instance, I would try different patterns of mowing to see if things went faster or it made it easier.  But I also started realizing that the various patterns made the lawn appear differently, sometimes making it look very cool.