Working differently a necessity

By Quentin Casey – The Telegraph-Journal | link to original article

Innovation does not occur magically, or by accident. Instead it evolves from a conscious decision to push beyond the ordinary and embrace new ideas, different people and fresh experiences.

That’s the conclusion of Hal Gregersen, a leading thinker on what makes people – and companies – innovative. On March 21, Gregersen will be in Fredericton to present his ideas during a keynote speech at the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s R3 Gala, a bi-annual event that honours New Brunswick’s top applied researchers.

“Innovation is a choice. We’re not born to innovate,” Gregersen said in an interview on Tuesday from his home in Paris. “We choose to do it or we don’t.”

And according to Gregersen, there are specific actions that any person, company or organization can use to fuel the generation of new ideas – the key ingredient of innovation. Those actions are outlined in The Innovator’s DNA – Mastering The Five Skills Of Disruptive Innovators, which Gregersen co-authored with Jeff Dyer and Clayton Christensen.

Over eight years, the trio interviewed nearly 100 inventors, company founders and CEOs – all in an effort to “uncover the origins of innovative – and often disruptive – business ideas.” The authors talked to innovators ranging from Research in Motion founder Mike Lazaridis to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Those interviews revealed factors that are present in most examples of notable innovation.

According to Gregersen, the five keys of innovation involve: drawing connections between unrelated problems and ideas; questioning commonly held views; observing the behaviour of others to find new ways of doing things; networking to meet new people and gather fresh perspectives; and experimenting with novel methods and ideas.

“If we question provocatively, observe, network for ideas, and experiment on a regular basis, we will think differently,” Gregersen said. “Innovation is an inevitable consequence of acting differently.”

In other words, creativity is not confined to the mind; It is influenced by activities we choose to embrace.

A nurturing environment is also important, Gregersen adds. “Innovation is an individual skill … but it’s also a team sport,” he said. “Very few ideas that have had a big impact were generated and nurtured by one individual alone.”

Gregersen’s message to his New Brunswick audience will be simple: An ever-changing world demands more innovation – change or be left behind.

“A company or a government organization might work well today. But it won’t work the moment the world changes – because change demands doing things differently, and that requires new ideas,” he said.

“New Brunswick is no different than the rest of the world. The world is changing. Uncertainty is increasing, not diminishing. And that’s demanding more innovation, not less.”