“Leading innovation is not about creating a vision, and inspiring others to execute it.”
“When many of us think about innovation, we think about an Einstein having an 'Aha!' moment. But we all know that's a myth. Innovation is not about solo genius, it's about collective genius.”
“Innovation is a journey. It's a type of collaborative problem solving, usually among people who have
different expertise and different points of view.”
“In innovative organizations, they amplify differences, they don't minimize them.”
Individuals in innovative organizations learn how to inquire, they learn how to actively listen, but guess what? They also learn how to advocate for their point of view. They understand that innovation rarely happens unless you have both diversity and conflict.”
“Innovative organizations, they never go along to get along. They don't compromise. They don't let one group or one individual dominate, even if it's the boss, even if it's the expert. Instead, they have developed a rather patient and more inclusive decision making process that allows for both/and solutions to arise and not simply either/or solutions.”
“Leading innovation is about creating the space where people are willing and able to do the hard work of innovative problem solving.”
“Hire people who argue with you.”
“[Leaders in an innovative company] stopped giving answers, they stopped trying to provide solutions. Instead, what they did is they began to see the people at the bottom of the pyramid, the young sparks, the people who were closest to the customers, as the source of innovation. They began to transfer the organization's growth to that level.”
“Our role as leaders is to set the stage, not perform on it.”
“Our task is to create the space where everybody's slices of genius can be unleashed and harnessed, and turned into works of collective genius.”