1. They
constantly look for patterns.
It’s called Apophenia: the ability to
perceive meaningful patterns within random data. It is a pronounced trait among
innovative thinkers. Intentionally looking for patterns and drawing connections
will allow you to spot potentials for innovations. The ability to
"predict" or foresee a problem is highly valuable. Great innovators
can see the subtle thread that produces the outlier.
2. They’re
brilliantly lazy.
Bill Gates said, “I choose a lazy person to
do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” Gates
could substitute “a lazy person” with “an innovative person.” Innovators will
indeed find the best and easiest route to get a project done. It boils down to
efficiency. Innovators live by the saying, “Work smart, not hard.” They don't
just strive to create the best product, but also the best process.
Related: Get Your Innovation Mojo Back With
These 8 Tips
3. They’re
obsessive note-takers.
Your conscious mind (working memory) can only
process small chunks of information at a time. With a cacophony of streaming
ideas, great innovators are incessant note takers. Thomas Edison left 3,500
notebooks behind at his death.
When Richard Branson revealed a key business
tool, it wasn’t a complicated gadget, but an old fashioned notepad. He’s always
seeking feedback from flight passengers and cabin crew and using that
information to innovate.
Your million-dollar idea can come from
anywhere; while you’re waiting for your coffee or getting groceries. Keep a
compendium of your ideas, it'll be your trail leading to gold.
4. They
preach perfection, but practice progress.
Perfectionism is seen as the bad guy. It can
be crippling, but discarding it opens the door for mediocrity. Great innovators
still fervently preach perfection, yet they live in the reality of progress.
It's a healthy pendulum-swing between the two. They strive for the ideal and
get work done in the real. Millionaire trader, Timothy Sykes says to “aim for
perfection, but keep firing to make progress.”
5. They're
allied with their fear.
Described as a “quirky creative genius,”
founder of Kidrobot and Ello, Paul Budnitz says the key to innovation is
changing your relationship with fear:
“Every one of my successful ventures has
faced bankruptcy, come close to losing key employees, or just collapsed along
the way. But by welcoming fear you get the benefit of what being afraid brings
-- heightened awareness, compassion for others you are working with, and an
unbreakable commitment to survive at all costs.”
Fear can enable progress and innovation. When
the feeling of fear arises, rather than a fight/flight response, embrace it as
an advantageous adrenaline rush.
6. They don’t
wait for things to break.
You’ve heard the adage, “Why fix it if it
ain’t broke?” Great innovators don’t wait for things to break; they’re
constantly fixing and iterating. CEO of Selfie Stick Gear Alynah Patel says the
key to staying ahead and being a pioneer in your business is to live by the
mantra, “It can always be better.”
Rather than wait for a problem and then
provide a solution, great innovators find ways to ensure the problem will never
even exist.
Related: Innovation Can Happen in Small But
Meaningful Ways
7. They
understand the creative process.
Preparation, Incubation, Illumination,
Implementation. Those are the four classic stages of the creative process. One
of the most crucial stages, just before the eureka moment is
"Incubation." Great innovators find novel ways to nurture this stage
of creativity; taking long showers, going for a walk in nature, doing yoga
headstands.
Incubation requires mental disengagement. It
allows for the unconscious process of synthesizing all the information you've
consciously encountered. The conscious detachment results in a
"marination" of ideas and then solutions coming “out of the blue.”
8. They
pursue multiple streams.
Elon Musk has Tesla and Solar City. Mark
Cuban has too many to name, on top of the Mavericks. It’s more than just
maximizing income, a hallmark of great innovators is nurturing multiple
interests. Just like the creative process, alternative interests overlap and
feed off each other. Having multiple projects breaks the
psychological-bottleneck and pressure of succeeding in one single venture. It will
also expand your breadth of knowledge and overall business acumen.
9. They
possess a healthy arrogance.
It may come across as arrogance, but
successful entrepreneurs and great innovators are highly confident. When Gallup
studied entrepreneurial talent they found that people with high confidence
performed better in stressful situations. When others see risk, highly
confident and innovative entrepreneurs see opportunity; when others see
roadblocks and potential failure, they see victory.
CEO of National Pearl, Emma Schrage says,
"A key part of innovation is implementation -- it’s not the first to come
up with the idea, but the first to produce it." Having a healthy arrogance
helped her take action in a saturated field, and against more "competent"
competition.
10. They embrace paradoxical
thinking.
Great innovators do not see the world in
black and white. While many people come to "either/or" conclusions,
they strive to see "both/and." When cell phones only made calls, and
music devices only played music, innovators overlooked these conventional boundaries.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, the great American
novelist said it best, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the
ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain
the ability to function."
Google+
Visit: http://maurolibiempresario.blogspot.com/
