Recently I had the pleasure of chatting with Chris Dorobek about my book – Innovation PACT. In addition to talking about the book we talked about some other great topics around innovation. There were some key takeaways from the interview that I think are important to share. You can check out the full piece and listen to the interview by clicking here.

Remove Failure from Your Vocabulary

Innovation requires managed risk and failures are a part of the process. As organizations approach innovation they really have to try and change the mindset around failure. If you communicate that failure is bad and that innovation requires failing, it leads people to think of innovation negatively. If instead, you change failing to learning, you can begin to alter that mindset and make innovation more comfortable.

Innovation is Not a Lightbulb Moment

One of the most common misconceptions around innovation is that it happens in a moment of insight inside an individual’s mind. This is rarely the case. Innovation happens over time and is developed through serendipitous and planned connections.  You have to create an environment where ideas can connect and individuals are allowed to develop ideas over longer timeframes.

Simplify Your Definition of Innovation

When most people think about innovation they think about disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovation rarely starts that way. It typically starts with small ideas that snowball over time. Therefore, innovation should be defined as – “Innovation is the introduction of new ways to handle situations or problems that provide a better result than the current methods.” Adopting this definition of innovation allows organizations to approach it without being overwhelmed.

For more information on the book please visit: www.InnovationPACT.com