How Can I Be More Innovative?

What is innovation and why is it important?

In short, innovation is about experimentation. It’s about failing fast and learning fast. I’m also a fan of the UK Research and Innovation’s definition:

The practical translation of disruptive ideas into novel, relevant and valued products, services, processes, systems or business models, making them readily available to markets, government and society, creating economic or social value from ideas.

Innovation is essential for unlocking unprecedented value for all members of society and securing a fair and just future. Einstein said that today’s problems cannot be solved with the same mindsets that created them. History suggests he was right. Solving societal challenges through the centuries has relied heavily on break-through technologies and radical thinking. It has relied on courageous individuals who re-imagined the world and made that re-imagined world real. The ability to make the re-imagined a reality is what we typically refer to as innovation.

How do we achieve innovation? Innovation is best achieved by providing people the agency, freedom, skills, opportunities and connections to be creative and entrepreneurial at all stages of their lives. As the Lead Innovator at two tech startups, my mission is to build and retain IT relevance by being deeply in touch with our customers, what they are demanding, and what the value proposition is for them. Since we are in an experience economy, I’m keen to create a seamless experience for them.

Innovation is an inherently creative and collaborative exercise. It’s been important for me to establish a process that enables team members to contribute their ideas. And to ensure that everyone across the organisation understands that operational excellence and innovation are prerequisites for IT to engage the business at a strategic level.

Startups grow by creating a compelling product that fills a market niche. It takes innovation to figure out how to build a community around a product or service. An innovative concept alone won’t guarantee success, however. You also need a strategic plan for getting your concept to the right customers.

Steve Jobs

Innovation can also be found when your business can identify a need that the market doesn’t even realise yet. Steve Jobs of Apple is the classic archetype of this sort of thinking: he reasoned that a lot of people didn’t know what they wanted until it was shown to them. Market research will only take you so far; your idea needs to address not what people think they want today but skilfully anticipate what they’ll need tomorrow.

Here are some steps you can take today to develop your creativity and innovation.

1 - Develop your curiosity systematically

The first step toward becoming more creative is to cultivate a passion for curiosity in a systematic way. Often we lose our sense of wonder as we get older, as life becomes more monotonous and routine. Innovative people, however, remain curious late into their old age, even into their 90s! So stay curious! Find something that surprises you each day. Take the time to pause, stop and reflect at least once in the morning, afternoon and evening. Try the new dish on the restaurant menu. Actively listen to your professional colleagues, friends and family.

Too often when something catches our interest, like an obscure song recommended to us by Spotify’s algorithm or a peculiar flower we encounter in the park, we hardly spare a second to think about it and swiftly move on. But making a conscious and deliberate effort to engage with all facets of the world is a crucial part of the creative process.

So chase your interests down – don’t let them escape you! And be open to new interests - you never know where they might take you. Set some SMART goals and systematise your investigation of the unknown. Ask interrogative and introspective questions that force you to consider new dimensions and unusual perspectives.

Questions like

• What would the world look like if I were a mouse? A caveman? A caterpillar?
• What is the meaning of life? Is there a place with no life or meaning?
• If I could time travel, what period would I travel to?
• If my parents died tomorrow, what would be their biggest regret?
• What limiting beliefs am I holding on to?

In answering these questions, identify and challenge your own assumptions otherwise you’ll never create the possibility of seeing differently.

The more multifaceted and robust your assumptions are, the more directions in which you can move, the greater your chance of stepping into a previously unknown space of possibility.

2 - Eliminate distractions

Once you awaken your creative spirit, it’s vital you safeguard it against distractions. Creative people develop habits and precautions that enable them to focus their attention.

Make a conscious effort to take control of your personal schedule. I like to use Google Calendar and Asana - a task management software. Google allows me to visualise and colour code my activities and Asana allows me to set deadlines and create timelines.

I also like to keep an ideas generation Google Docs journal and allow myself to be inspired by the world around me to develop new content. The capacity of the human brain for imagination and creativity relies on its interaction with the external world so it’s vital you cultivate the ability to mindfully observe the world around you.

What you do during the day may be hindering your creative goals. Work out when you’re most productive: early in the morning or late at night? Give yourself time to focus when you have the most energy to do so.

Harness the times of the day where your analytical brain is at its quietest for creating and developing novel ideas. I for one am a night owl and find I’m most creative in the late evenings. Take every possible precaution you can to foster your own unique way of thinking, and in time innovation will become a way of life.

3 - Experiment with your workspace and routine

Second Home, Holland Park

We are far more innovative in environments that inspire us. Across all ages many cultures have observed that your physical environment can have a considerable impact on your thoughts. Hindu Brahmins wandered into the forest in search for the divine. Chinese sages wrote poetry on small island pavilions. Christian monks chose serene spots in nature to build monasteries.

RSA House

At the time of writing, I’ve begun conducting individual research in the Royal Society of Arts House in Covent Garden, London twice a week - it’s a beautifully designed building with strong associations with unconventional thinking, ingenuity and innovation. The fact that I’m in a new and exciting space greatly improves my creativity and productivity.

There’s lots of evidence to support this claim. Studies have shown that when we enter new spaces our brains are evolved to heighten our senses and sharpen our thinking. The human brain naturally and automatically memorises the layout of any new space to give us a survival advantage and avoid getting lost. The novel sensory stimuli also unleashes a flood of dopamine - the motivation chemical - to adapt to the new environment.

Our brain uses dopamine to plan, imagine, and strategise and it is a crucial ingredient in making new connections between seemingly disparate things. Artists, musicians, and writers tend to have brains that are rich in dopamine. This allows them to think in new, unconventional ways.

We also know dopamine levels are high when we’re

• dreaming
• running
• driving
• showering

Be a scientist in the laboratory of your life by developing self-awareness through observation and testing. Visit different coffee shops, libraries, parks and don’t be afraid to escape your routine and familiarity. Equally, once you find an environment that’s conducive to your creativity stick to it long enough to exhaust its utility.

New environments aren’t necessarily always beneficial to the creative process since preparation and evaluation often play out more effectively in familiar, comfortable settings. This could explain why composer Johann Sebastian Bach never traveled far from his native Thuringia in Germany, and France’s Marcel Proust wrote his masterpiece in a dark study.

Even Albert Einstein articulated the theory of relativity while writing at his kitchen table.

4 - Multiple uses test

The Alternate Uses Task (AUT) designed by JP Guilford in 1967 is an effective way to kickstart your creativity. It consists of someone thinking of as many uses as possible for a single object within a fixed time constraint. The results of the test are measured across four criteria:

• Fluency — the number of alternative uses you can think of;
• Originality — how unusual those uses are – evidence of ‘thinking different’;
• Flexibility — the range of ideas, in different domains and categories;
• Elaboration — level of detail and development of the idea

Try it out for yourself by grab the nearest object to you. Perhaps it’s a coffee cup, a pen or sheet of paper. The object itself is of little importance. Now write down as many uses you can imagine for that object. Chances you can think of about 20 use cases. And even if you can generate 20 you’ll likely find that they fall into about 7+ or - chunks of similar uses or things which are closely related. Even when being creative your brain is constrained by the ways in which you’ve used it historically.

What if I told you that children can think of 40 or more uses for any given object with dozens of completely different categories. They’re able to think extremely creatively. They might describe the coffee cup as

• a percussion instrument you hit with a drumstick
• a helmet for a goblin in a thunderstorm
• an upside down spider trap

Or perhaps they’ll describe the pen as

• a jousting sword for an intrepid mouse or
• a balance beam for a miniature gymnast or
• a flagpole for a colony of ants

The beauty of this exercise that with just a few sessions of 2-3 minutes you’ll kickstart your creativity and increase the variety and richness of your responses.

What many adults fail to realise is that you can manipulate the object in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. You can snap the pen, take the ink and turn it into war paint. You can take the spring out and use it to protect your Android charger. When writing down your responses or saying them aloud, ask yourself

• What is this item made of?
• How is this item typically used in various contexts e.g. war, food, education, construction, art, entertainment, sports, personal grooming?
• What historic or symbolic meaning is associated with this item?
• Where can I see similar items in nature?

Think about ways you can maximise your

• emotional expressiveness
• story-telling articulateness

Employ

• unusual visualisation
• humour
• rich, colourful and fantastical imagery

Each question projects the item into a variety of virtual landscapes where you can fit the item in a sort of hyperlinking process. Some landscapes will be more compatible with the object than others so don’t be afraid to experiment.

By projecting the object in various contexts that already exist in our heads and generating connections between the object and the context, you’ll unlock a whole new layer of potential uses that most adults wouldn’t even consider and ultimately strengthen your creativity.

5 - What if [insert company] did [your domain]?

Imagine what a product, service or experience would look like were it to be offered by a variety of different brands.

• What if Apple did mental wellbeing?
• What if Sony did high-street fashion?
• What if Google did pharmaceuticals?
• What if IKEA did cars?
• What if Netflix did thermostats?
• What if Prada did an airline?
• What if Disney did a university?

Conclusion

Innovation is a skill like any other - it can be learned and refined. Many creative adults certainly didn’t show early signs of unusual talent. Einstein and Darwin weren’t child prodigies. Winston Churchill’s ability as a statesman flowered in his middle age. Writers Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka and Marcel Proust failed to impress their mentors when they were young. Other prominent creatives like artist Pablo Picasso and writer T. S. Eliot also said that their time in school contributed little to their later accomplishments. In a world of vast similarity, don’t be afraid to march to another drummer.

Let your unique, authentic and innovative self shine through.

Questions for you to consider

1. What does innovation mean to you?
2. How would you go about instilling a culture of innovation within our organisation (objectively)?
3. How do you measure and track innovation objectively?
4. Will you start off with a large share of a small market?
5. Can you still defend your market position in ten or 20 years?
6. Do you see a unique opportunity that others have missed?

Reading list

1. The Creativity Code — Marcus du Sautoy
2. The Hard Thing About Hard Things
   Book — Ben Horowitz
3. The Innovators — Walter Isaacson
4. The Polymath — Waqas Ahmed
5. Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
6. Deep Creativity — Deborah Anne Quibell, Jennifer Leigh Selig, PhD, Dennis Patrick Slattery, PhD
7. How to Create a Mind — Ray Kurzweil