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2016-01-12 15:09:50
Jeffrey H. DyerHal GregersenClayton M. Christensen
How do I find innovative people for my organization? And how can I become more
innovative myself?
These are questions that stump senior executives, who understand that the
ability to innovate is the secret sauce of business success. Unfortunately,
most of us know very little about what makes one person more creative than
another. Perhaps for this reason, we stand in awe of visionary entrepreneurs
like Apple s Steve Jobs, Amazon s Jeff Bezos, eBay s Pierre Omidyar, and P&G s
A.G. Lafley. How do these people come up with groundbreaking new ideas? If it
were possible to discover the inner workings of the masters minds, what could
the rest of us learn about how innovation really happens?
In searching for answers, we undertook a six-year study to uncover the origins
of creative and often disruptive business strategies in particularly innovative
companies. Our goal was to put innovative entrepreneurs under the microscope,
examining when and how they came up with the ideas on which their businesses
were built. We especially wanted to examine how they differ from other
executives and entrepreneurs: Someone who buys a McDonald s franchise may be an
entrepreneur, but building an Amazon requires different skills altogether. We
studied the habits of 25 innovative entrepreneurs and surveyed more than 3,000
executives and 500 individuals who had started innovative companies or invented
new products.
We were intrigued to learn that at most companies, top executives do not feel
personally responsible for coming up with strategic innovations. Rather, they
feel responsible for facilitating the innovation process. In stark contrast,
senior executives of the most innovative companies a mere 15% in our study don
t delegate creative work. They do it themselves.
But how do they do it? Our research led us to identify five discovery skills
that distinguish the most creative executives: associating, questioning,
observing, experimenting, and networking. We found that innovative
entrepreneurs (who are also CEOs) spend 50% more time on these discovery
activities than do CEOs with no track record for innovation. Together, these
skills make up what we call the innovator s DNA. And the good news is, if you
re not born with it, you can cultivate it.
What Makes Innovators Different?
Innovative entrepreneurs have something called creative intelligence, which
enables discovery yet differs from other types of intelligence (as suggested by
Howard Gardner s theory of multiple intelligences). It is more than the
cognitive skill of being right-brained. Innovators engage both sides of the
brain as they leverage the five discovery skills to create new ideas.
In thinking about how these skills work together, we ve found it useful to
apply the metaphor of DNA. Associating is like the backbone structure of DNA s
double helix; four patterns of action (questioning, observing, experimenting,
and networking) wind around this backbone, helping to cultivate new insights.
And just as each person s physical DNA is unique, each individual we studied
had a unique innovator s DNA for generating breakthrough business ideas.
Imagine that you have an identical twin, endowed with the same brains and
natural talents that you have. You re both given one week to come up with a
creative new business-venture idea. During that week, you come up with ideas
alone in your room. In contrast, your twin (1) talks with 10 people including
an engineer, a musician, a stay-at-home dad, and a designer about the venture,
(2) visits three innovative start-ups to observe what they do, (3) samples five
new to the market products, (4) shows a prototype he s built to five people,
and (5) asks the questions What if I tried this? and Why do you do that? at
least 10 times each day during these networking, observing, and experimenting
activities. Who do you bet will come up with the more innovative (and doable)
idea?
Studies of identical twins separated at birth indicate that our ability to
think creatively comes one-third from genetics; but two-thirds of the
innovation skill set comes through learning first understanding a given skill,
then practicing it, experimenting, and ultimately gaining confidence in one s
capacity to create. Innovative entrepreneurs in our study acquired and honed
their innovation skills precisely this way.
Let s look at the skills in detail.
Discovery Skill 1: Associating
Associating, or the ability to successfully connect seemingly unrelated
questions, problems, or ideas from different fields, is central to the
innovator s DNA. Entrepreneur Frans Johansson described this phenomenon as the
Medici effect, referring to the creative explosion in Florence when the
Medici family brought together people from a wide range of disciplines
sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, painters, and architects. As these
individuals connected, new ideas blossomed at the intersections of their
respective fields, thereby spawning the Renaissance, one of the most inventive
eras in history.
To grasp how associating works, it is important to understand how the brain
operates. The brain doesn t store information like a dictionary, where you can
find the word theater under the letter T. Instead, it associates the word
theater with any number of experiences from our lives. Some of these are
logical ( West End or intermission ), while others may be less obvious
(perhaps anxiety, from a botched performance in high school). The more
diverse our experience and knowledge, the more connections the brain can make.
Fresh inputs trigger new associations; for some, these lead to novel ideas. As
Steve Jobs has frequently observed, Creativity is connecting things.
The world s most innovative companies prosper by capitalizing on the divergent
associations of their founders, executives, and employees. For example, Pierre
Omidyar launched eBay in 1996 after linking three unconnected dots: (1) a
fascination with creating more-efficient markets, after having been shut out
from a hot internet company s IPO in the mid-1990s; (2) his fianc e s desire to
locate hard-to-find collectible Pez dispensers; and (3) the ineffectiveness of
local classified ads in locating such items. Likewise, Steve Jobs is able to
generate idea after idea because he has spent a lifetime exploring new and
unrelated things the art of calligraphy, meditation practices in an Indian
ashram, the fine details of a Mercedes-Benz.
Associating is like a mental muscle that can grow stronger by using the other
discovery skills. As innovators engage in those behaviors, they build their
ability to generate ideas that can be recombined in new ways. The more
frequently people in our study attempted to understand, categorize, and store
new knowledge, the more easily their brains could naturally and consistently
make, store, and recombine associations.
Discovery Skill 2: Questioning
More than 50 years ago, Peter Drucker described the power of provocative
questions. The important and difficult job is never to find the right answers,
it is to find the right question, he wrote. Innovators constantly ask
questions that challenge common wisdom or, as Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata
puts it, question the unquestionable. Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, has
worked directly with a number of innovative entrepreneurs, including the
founders of eBay, PayPal, and Skype. They get a kick out of screwing up the
status quo, she told us. They can t bear it. So they spend a tremendous
amount of time thinking about how to change the world. And as they brainstorm,
they like to ask: If we did this, what would happen?
Most of the innovative entrepreneurs we interviewed could remember the specific
questions they were asking at the time they had the inspiration for a new
venture. Michael Dell, for instance, told us that his idea for founding Dell
Computer sprang from his asking why a computer cost five times as much as the
sum of its parts. I would take computers apart and would observe that $600
worth of parts were sold for $3,000. In chewing over the question, he hit on
his revolutionary business model.
Sample of Innovative Entrepreneurs from our Study
Sam Allen: ScanCafe.com
Marc Benioff:Salesforce.com
Jeff Bezos: Amazon.com
Mike Collins: Big Idea Group
Scott Cook: Intuit
Michael Dell: Dell Computer
Aaron Garrity: XanGo
Diane Green: VMWare
Eliot Jacobsen: RocketFuel
Josh James: Omniture
Chris Johnson: Terra Nova
Jeff Jones: NxLight; Campus Pipeline
Herb Kelleher: Southwest Airlines
Mike Lazaridis: Research In Motion
Spencer Moffat: Fast Arch of Utah
David Neeleman: JetBlue; Morris Air
Pierre Omidyar: eBay
John Pestana: Omniture
Peter Thiel: PayPal
Mark Wattles: Hollywood Video
Corey Wride: Movie Mouth
Niklas Zennstr m: Skype
To question effectively, innovative entrepreneurs do the following:
Ask Why? and Why not? and What if?
Most managers focus on understanding how to make existing processes the status
quo work a little better ( How can we improve widget sales in Taiwan? ).
Innovative entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are much more likely to challenge
assumptions ( If we cut the size or weight of the widget in half, how would
that change the value proposition it offers? ). Marc Benioff, the founder of
the online sales software provider Salesforce.com, was full of questions after
witnessing the emergence of Amazon and eBay, two companies built on services
delivered via the internet. Why are we still loading and upgrading software
the way we ve been doing all this time when we can now do it over the internet?
he wondered. This fundamental question was the genesis of Salesforce.com.
Imagine opposites.
In his book The Opposable Mind, Roger Martin writes that innovative thinkers
have the capacity to hold two diametrically opposing ideas in their heads. He
explains, Without panicking or simply settling for one alternative or the
other, they re able to produce a synthesis that is superior to either opposing
idea.
Innovative entrepreneurs like to play devil s advocate. My learning process
has always been about disagreeing with what I m being told and taking the
opposite position, and pushing others to really justify themselves, Pierre
Omidyar told us. I remember it was very frustrating for the other kids when I
would do this. Asking oneself, or others, to imagine a completely different
alternative can lead to truly original insights.
Embrace constraints.
Most of us impose constraints on our thinking only when forced to deal with
real-world limitations, such as resource allocations or technology
restrictions. Ironically, great questions actively impose constraints on our
thinking and serve as a catalyst for out-of-the-box insights. (In fact, one of
Google s nine innovation principles is Creativity loves constraint. ) To
initiate a creative discussion about growth opportunities, one innovative
executive in our study asked this question: What if we were legally prohibited
from selling to our current customers? How would we make money next year? This
led to an insightful exploration of ways the company could find and serve new
customers. Another innovative CEO prods his managers to examine sunk-cost
constraints by asking, What if you had not already hired this person,
installed this equipment, implemented this process, bought this business, or
pursued this strategy? Would you do the same thing you are doing today?
Discovery Skill 3: Observing
Discovery-driven executives produce uncommon business ideas by scrutinizing
common phenomena, particularly the behavior of potential customers. In
observing others, they act like anthropologists and social scientists.
Intuit founder Scott Cook hit on the idea for Quicken financial software after
two key observations. First he watched his wife s frustration as she struggled
to keep track of their finances. Often the surprises that lead to new business
ideas come from watching other people work and live their normal lives, Cook
explained. You see something and ask, Why do they do that? That doesn t make
sense. Then a buddy got him a sneak peek at the Apple Lisa before it
launched. Immediately after leaving Apple headquarters, Cook drove to the
nearest restaurant to write down everything he had noticed about the Lisa. His
observations prompted insights such as building the graphical user interface to
look just like its real-world counterpart (a checkbook, for example), making it
easy for people to use it. So Cook set about solving his wife s problem and
grabbed 50% of the market for financial software in the first year.
Innovators carefully, intentionally, and consistently look out for small
behavioral details in the activities of customers, suppliers, and other
companies in order to gain insights about new ways of doing things. Ratan Tata
got the inspiration that led to the world s cheapest car by observing the
plight of a family of four packed onto a single motorized scooter. After years
of product development, Tata Group launched in 2009 the $2,500 Nano using a
modular production method that may disrupt the entire automobile distribution
system in India. Observers try all sorts of techniques to see the world in a
different light. Akio Toyoda regularly practices Toyota s philosophy of genchi
genbutsu going to the spot and seeing for yourself. Frequent direct
observation is baked into the Toyota culture.
Discovery Skill 4: Experimenting
When we think of experiments, we think of scientists in white coats or of great
inventors like Thomas Edison. Like scientists, innovative entrepreneurs
actively try out new ideas by creating prototypes and launching pilots. (As
Edison said, I haven t failed. I ve simply found 10,000 ways that do not work.
) The world is their laboratory. Unlike observers, who intensely watch the
world, experimenters construct interactive experiences and try to provoke
unorthodox responses to see what insights emerge.
The innovative entrepreneurs we interviewed all engaged in some form of active
experimentation, whether it was intellectual exploration (Michael Lazaridis
mulling over the theory of relativity in high school), physical tinkering (Jeff
Bezos taking apart his crib as a toddler or Steve Jobs disassembling a Sony
Walkman), or engagement in new surroundings (Starbucks founder Howard Shultz
roaming Italy visiting coffee bars). As executives of innovative enterprises,
they make experimentation central to everything they do. Bezos s online
bookstore didn t stay where it was after its initial success; it morphed into
an online discount retailer, selling a full line of products from toys to TVs
to home appliances. The electronic reader Kindle is an experiment that is now
transforming Amazon from an online retailer to an innovative electronics
manufacturer. Bezos sees experimentation as so critical to innovation that he
has institutionalized it at Amazon. I encourage our employees to go down blind
alleys and experiment, Bezos says. If we can get processes decentralized so
that we can do a lot of experiments without it being very costly, we ll get a
lot more innovation.
---
How Innovators Stack Up
This chart shows how four well-known innovative entrepreneurs rank on each of
the discovery skills. All our high-profile innovators scored above the 80th
percentile on questioning, yet each combined the discovery skills uniquely to
forge new insights.
---
Scott Cook, too, stresses the importance of creating a culture that fosters
experimentation. Our culture opens us to allowing lots of failures while
harvesting the learning, he told us. It s what separates an innovation
culture from a normal corporate culture.
One of the most powerful experiments innovators can engage in is living and
working overseas. Our research revealed that the more countries a person has
lived in, the more likely he or she is to leverage that experience to deliver
innovative products, processes, or businesses. In fact, if managers try out
even one international assignment before becoming CEO, their companies deliver
stronger financial results than companies run by CEOs without such experience
roughly 7% higher market performance on average, according to research by
Gregeren, Mason A. Carpenter, and Gerard W. Sanders. P&G s A.G. Lafley, for
example, spent time as a student studying history in France and running retail
operations on U.S. military bases in Japan. He returned to Japan later to head
all of P&G s Asia operations before becoming CEO. His diverse international
experience has served him well as the leader of one of the most innovative
companies in the world.
Discovery Skill 5: Networking
Devoting time and energy to finding and testing ideas through a network of
diverse individuals gives innovators a radically different perspective. Unlike
most executives who network to access resources, to sell themselves or their
companies, or to boost their careers innovative entrepreneurs go out of their
way to meet people with different kinds of ideas and perspectives to extend
their own knowledge domains. To this end, they make a conscious effort to visit
other countries and meet people from other walks of life.
They also attend idea conferences such as Technology, Entertainment, and Design
(TED), Davos, and the Aspen Ideas Festival. Such conferences draw together
artists, entrepreneurs, academics, politicians, adventurers, scientists, and
thinkers from all over the world, who come to present their newest ideas,
passions, and projects. Michael Lazaridis, the founder of Research In Motion,
notes that the inspiration for the original BlackBerry occurred at a conference
in 1987. A speaker was describing a wireless data system that had been designed
for Coke; it allowed vending machines to send a signal when they needed
refilling. That s when it hit me, Lazaridis recalls. I remembered what my
teacher said in high school: Don t get too caught up with computers because
the person that puts wireless technology and computers together is going to
make a big difference. David Neeleman came up with key ideas for JetBlue such
as satellite TV at every seat and at-home reservationists through networking at
conferences and elsewhere.
Kent Bowen, the founding scientist of CPS technologies (maker of an innovative
ceramic composite), hung the following credo in every office of his start-up:
The insights required to solve many of our most challenging problems come from
outside our industry and scientific field. We must aggressively and proudly
incorporate into our work findings and advances which were not invented here.
Scientists from CPS have solved numerous complex problems by talking with
people in other fields. One expert from Polaroid with in-depth knowledge of
film technology knew how to make the ceramic composite stronger. Experts in
sperm-freezing technology knew how to prevent ice crystal growth on cells
during freezing, a technique that CPS applied to its manufacturing process with
stunning success.
---
Put a Ding in the Universe
Why do innovators question, observe, experiment, and network more than typical
executives? As we examined what motivates them, we discovered two common
themes: (1) They actively desire to change the status quo, and (2) they
regularly take risks to make that change happen. Throughout our research, we
were struck by the consistency of language that innovators use to describe
their motives. Jeff Bezos wants to make history, Steve Jobs to put a ding in
the universe, Skype cofounder Niklas Zennstr m to be disruptive, but in the
cause of making the world a better place. These innovators steer entirely
clear of a common cognitive bias called the status quo bias the tendency to
prefer an existing state of affairs to alternative ones.
Embracing a mission for change makes it much easier to take risks and make
mistakes. For most of the innovative entrepreneurs we studied, mistakes are
nothing to be ashamed of; in fact, they are expected as a cost of doing
business. If the people running Amazon.com don t make some significant
mistakes, explained Bezos, then we won t be doing a good job for our
shareholders because we won t be swinging for the fences. In short, innovators
rely on their courage to innovate an active bias against the status quo and
an unflinching willingness to take risks to transform ideas into powerful
impact.
---
Practice, Practice, Practice
As innovators actively engage in the discovery skills, they become defined by
them. They grow increasingly confident of their creative abilities. For A.G.
Lafley, innovation is the central job of every leader, regardless of the place
he or she occupies on the organizational chart. But what if you like most
executives don t see yourself or those on your team as particularly innovative?
Though innovative thinking may be innate to some, it can also be developed and
strengthened through practice. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of
rehearsing over and over the behaviors described above, to the point that they
become automatic. This requires putting aside time for you and your team to
actively cultivate more creative ideas.
The most important skill to practice is questioning. Asking Why and Why not
can help turbocharge the other discovery skills. Ask questions that both impose
and eliminate constraints; this will help you see a problem or opportunity from
a different angle. Try spending 15 to 30 minutes each day writing down 10 new
questions that challenge the status quo in your company or industry. If I had
a favorite question to ask, everyone would anticipate it, Michael Dell told
us. Instead I like to ask things people don t think I m going to ask. This is
a little cruel, but I kind of delight in coming up with questions that nobody
has the answer to quite yet.
To sharpen your own observational skills, watch how certain customers
experience a product or service in their natural environment. Spend an entire
day carefully observing the jobs that customers are trying to get done. Try
not to make judgments about what you see: Simply pretend you re a fly on the
wall, and observe as neutrally as possible. Scott Cook advises Intuit s
observers to ask, What s different than you expected? Follow Richard Branson
s example and get in the habit of note taking wherever you go. Or follow Jeff
Bezos s: I take pictures of really bad innovations, he told us, of which
there are a number.
To strengthen experimentation, at both the individual and organizational
levels, consciously approach work and life with a hypothesis-testing mind-set.
Attend seminars or executive education courses on topics outside your area of
expertise; take apart a product or process that interests you; read books that
purport to identify emerging trends. When you travel, don t squander the
opportunity to learn about different lifestyles and local behavior. Develop new
hypotheses from the knowledge you ve acquired and test them in the search for
new products or processes. Find ways to institutionalize frequent, small
experiments at all levels of the organization. Openly acknowledging that
learning through failure is valuable goes a long way toward building an
innovative culture.
Try spending 15 to 30 minutes each day writing down questions that challenge
the status quo in your company.
To improve your networking skills, contact the five most creative people you
know and ask them to share what they do to stimulate creative thinking. You
might also ask if they d be willing to act as your creative mentors. We suggest
holding regular idea lunches at which you meet a few new people from diverse
functions, companies, industries, or countries. Get them to tell you about
their innovative ideas and ask for feedback on yours.
Innovative entrepreneurship is not a genetic predisposition, it is an active
endeavor. Apple s slogan Think Different is inspiring but incomplete. We
found that innovators must consistently act different to think different. By
understanding, reinforcing, and modeling the innovator s DNA, companies can
find ways to more successfully develop the creative spark in everyone.
A version of this article appeared in the December 2009 issue of Harvard
Business Review.
Jeffrey H. Dyer is the Horace Beesley Professor of Strategy at the Marriott
School of Management at Brigham Young University. He is the coauthor of The
Innovator s Method: Bringing the Lean Startup into Your Organization (Harvard
Business Review Press, 2014).
Hal Gregersen is executive director of the MIT Leadership Center and a senior
lecturer in leadership and innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He
is the author The Innovator s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive
Innovators and founder of The 4-24 Project. As part of the MIT Leadership
Center Video Series, he sits down with innovative leaders to explore how they
are solving the world s most challenging problems.
Clayton M. Christensen is the Kim B. Clark professor of Business Administration
at Harvard Business School.