Executive Briefings

Published February 2010

Five Secrets of Great Innovators

Agatha Gilmore

First came the iPod. Then came the iPhone. With the unveiling of the iPad last week, one might argue Apple CEO Steve Jobs officially cemented his place in history as one of the world’s greatest innovators.

We all might wish we had Jobs’ creativity and business savvy. The good news is, the ability to innovate is a learnable skill — at least according to three researchers from INSEAD, Brigham Young and Harvard. In their new study, they find that the most innovative leaders possess five key “discovery skills” that distinguish them from their less creative colleagues:

1. Associating, which is the ability to connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems or ideas from different fields.
2. Questioning, which means constantly asking “Why?” “Why not?” and “What if?” as well as always keeping an open mind.
3. Observing, which is scrutinizing the marketplace and common business phenomena, including behavior of potential customers.
4. Experimenting, which involves rigorous testing of new ideas via prototypes and pilots.
5. Networking, which means making a conscious effort to speak with and visit others to expand one’s own knowledge base.

The researchers, who surveyed nearly 3,500 executives over the course of six years, also found that the most innovative individuals spend 50 percent more time on these activities than those with no track record for innovation.

“Finding innovative skills at the C-level is not only critical to generating new ideas for disruptive businesses, services, products and processes, but equally valuable to soliciting and valuing others’ great ideas,” said Hal Gregersen, affiliate professor of leadership at INSEAD and one of the authors of the study. “Without C-level executives who are comfortable at innovating themselves, it’s far less likely they will honestly value innovation in their senior team — or throughout their organization, for that matter.”

Of course, there are challenges to developing the five critical skills identified by Gregersen and his fellow researchers. First and foremost, most organizations don’t place a high value on discovery skills, Gregersen said.

“We live in a world that often gives lip service to discovery skills, but rarely backs up the rhetoric with rewards,” he said. “Almost every 4-year-old sees himself as creative, while less than 10 percent of adults would say the same.”

Additionally, many leaders make the mistake of expecting big, immediate returns on innovation investments, Gregersen said.

“Be prepared to engage in actions with no immediate return to the company. Acting innovatively rarely delivers immediate big impact results,” he said. “Rather, everyday acts of innovation help C-level executives lay the foundation so that when the world demands innovative ideas or solutions, they are prepared to deliver.”

That said, there are steps learning leaders can take to help executives overcome these challenges and become more innovative. The first is simply a restatement of the old adage “practice makes perfect.”

“With consistent effort, we’re convinced that anyone can improve their creativity skills,” Gregersen said. “Spend at least 15 minutes a day building the skills. Over time, insight capacity increases and new ideas flourish.

“These are the skills that any 4-year-old is quite accomplished at: always asking questions, watching the world around them carefully, experimenting with every sense and talking to just about anybody about anything,” Gregersen continued. “Some very straightforward learning tasks done on a daily basis can deliver marked improvements in a short amount of time.”

Learning leaders also should engage executives in 360-degree feedback conversations to increase not only their own creative thinking, but that of others as well.

“We worked with one C-level team where an executive was superb at innovating but abysmal at encouraging others,” Gregersen explained. “We have found 360 feedback around these skills especially powerful for not only innovating better as an individual executive, but creating an environment where others can do the same.”

Agatha Gilmore is a senior editor for Chief Learning Officer magazine. She can be reached at agilmore@clomedia.com .

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