Professors Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of INSEAD conducted a massive six-year study surveying and interviewing nearly 3,000 creative executives. Their goal was to understand how innovators think.
Very interesting stuff indeed!
But is it useful?
Even if we knew how innovative people thought, what could we do with that information?
This is the closest that the authors get to answering that question in a recent interview they did with Harvard Business Review:
We also believe that the most innovative entrepreneurs were very lucky to have been raised in an atmosphere where inquisitiveness was encouraged. We were stuck by the stories they told about being sustained by people who cared about experimentation and exploration. Sometimes these people were relatives, but sometimes they were neighbors, teachers or other influential adults. A number of the innovative entrepreneurs also went to Montessori schools, where they learned to follow their curiosity. To paraphrase the famous Apple ad campaign, innovators not only learned early on to think different, they act different (and even talk different).
Cool. So we all just need to start sending our kids to Montessori schools and the next generation will be Generation I (I for Innovative, of course).
On the other hand, over at the New York Times’ You’re The Boss Blog, Scott Shane claims that he found evidence that your DNA could explain your entrepreneurial tendencies.
Sounds like the old nature vs. nurture discussion that shows up whenever folks try explain why ridiculously talented artists, entrepreneurs, <insert profession here> are the way they are.
Again, I find this stuff super interesting, but only marginally useful.
As someone who is an aspiring entrepreneurship researcher, I question the utility of trying to understanding how folks think, but I find tremendous interest and utility in understanding what constrains them. What are the challenges that keep them from bringing innovation and new ideas to the forefront? How can they be helped? Who can leverage this knowledge to create change?
Which is why this was my favorite part of the interview with Dyer and Gregersen:
We think there are far more discovery driven people in companies than anyone realizes. We’ve found that 15% of executives are deeply innovative, meaning they’ve invented a new product or started an innovative venture. But the problem is that even the most creative people are often careful about asking questions for fear of looking stupid, or because they know the organization won’t value it.
via How Do Innovators Think? – HBR Editors’ Blog – Harvard Business Review.
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