Cultivating an Innovation Mindset
5 principles to become more innovative.
In this article, I make the case that — innovation is not the prerogative of a few.
An innovation mindset is something each person (no matter where they are born, live or work) can develop — if they embrace certain principles that allow for it.
Below, I elaborate on 5 principles that I have personally found valuable.
1. Openness
Openness involves being curious, embracing what’s outside, and being like a sponge. It involves seeing with your peripheral vision, and being interested in things that may not traditionally fall within your domain.
“When you access knowledge of any kind — make an effort to explore things not necessarily related to each other (or to your core work).”
For example, when I read— I don’t focus on what discipline a piece of content belongs to, as long as I believe I have something to learn from it. This takes me places as diverse as neuroscience, jazz, philosophy or artificial intelligence.
If you are able to keep an open mind and maintain genuine curiosity, you will be surprised at how new ideas will transpire from all of these different places, and come together beautifully at times when you least expect them to.
2. Combinatorial creativity
Combinatorial creativity is closely related to openness, and almost follows from it.
The idea of combinatorial creativity is to take all the different ideas you have looked at, been open to, and let brew in your head — and combining them in ways that are interesting, meaningful and fit the context.
Consider the Shazam app — which can help you figure out what song is playing in the background, no matter where you are, in a cafe or in a cathedral.
Building such an app would not be possible without an understanding of musicology, at the same time, it would not work without audio signal processing experts and data scientists to build out the engine for analyzing songs, matching them to a repository and churning out the right names for the user.
This is a classic example of different disciplines coming together to create a valuable product.
“Combining disciplines or ideas is a time-tested way to produce creative output.”
3. Empathy
“Empathy is in itself, a very human trait — one that is useful in social situations, whether in the context of friends, colleagues or family.”
However, it is also a very useful tool for problem-solving. Most often, when we are trying to solve a problem for someone (and that could include ourselves), it is really important to diagnose the problem well. This usually involves getting into the shoes of the person facing the problem, understanding their pain points, and immersing yourself in their context.
It is only then that we are able to come up with a solution that is meaningful — one that addresses the problem effectively, and provides the benefit that the user is looking for.
4. Imperfectionism
“The idea of imperfectionism is essentially about normalizing failure.”
We often have reservations when it comes to putting out something that’s incomplete, or something that we consider imperfect. However, if you want to create something new and valuable, the only way to do it is by trying things out, placing small bets, failing and learning from the process, and taking feedback to develop the idea.
There is no way you are going to get it right the first time, every time. As Ray Dalio alludes, it is only by accepting imperfectionism, that we can develop something new and innovative in an iterative way, and move towards creating real value.
5. Stillness
“In today’s age, we are inundated with a combination of signals and noise.”
It is often hard to cut through the noise, figure out what is important, and thereby focus on the right things. This is where stillness, and imbibing the practice of stillness, becomes valuable.
Something I have learnt from my personal experience is that— when you’re trying to innovate, or solve a layered problem, insulating yourself once in a while (after having gone through the openness stage) — and patiently thinking about the problem, focusing on it very deeply — can lead to unexpected, transformative insights.
I hope these 5 principles resonate with you, and I hope you will put them to practice when the time is right — to create new value for society.
About the author: Shayan Roy Chowdhury works as Innovation Manager at Teach For India. He is an Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology D-Lab.
