innovator's dna project_2004

7/27/2019 Innovator's DNA Project_2004

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The Innovators DNAChapter 3: Discovery Skill #2 Questioning

Chapter 4: Discovery Skill #3 Observing

By Janelle Thompson


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Peter Drucker

The important and difficult job is never to find

the right answers, it is to find the right question.

For there are few things as uselessif not dangerous-as the right answer to the wrong question.

Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata group

Question the Unquestionable

Betterunderstand

what is

ChallengeStatus Quo

Betterunderstandwhat might

be


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When you

persist in asking

questionsthroughout life

particularly

challenging

onesits central

to who you are

and how you

lead.

Orit Gadiesh


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Questions are the creative catalyst for the

other discovery behaviors.

Hold the potential to cultivate creative

insights. Innovators ask more questions than non-

innovators, they also ask more provocative

questions.

Questioning is a way of life for innovators.

Counterintuitive questions.

What is Questioning?


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Question common wisdom & pushboundaries, assumptions and borders.

Describe the territory

Tactic #1: Askwhat is? questions

Tactic #2: Askwhat caused? questions

Disrupt the territory

Tactic #3: Askwhy?/why not? questions

Tactic #4: Askwhat if? questions Impose constraints

Eliminate constraints

How to ask disruptive questions?


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Afraid to look stupid

Do not want to be looked at as

uncooperative, disagreeable or disrespectful.

Punishment for questioning own firm

Expectations of answers and not questions.

Cant ask the boss questions that challenge

the status quo.

What stops us from asking

questions?


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Questions alone do notproduce innovation.

Combine asking theright questions with otherinnovators DNA skills.

Constantly create betterquestions

You dont invent the

answers, you reveal theanswers by finding the

right question.

Jonas Salk (discoverer ofthe 1st polio vaccine)

Tip #1: Engage inQuestion-Storming

Tip #2: Cultivate

question thinking Tip #3: Track your Q/A

ratio

Tip #4: Keep a question-

centered notebook. Kind and patterns

Why is it this way

Challenge the status quo

Disruptive territory

Potential

TurbochargerDeveloping Skills


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Vuja deA sense of seeing something for the firsttime, even if you havent actually seen it many times

before.

Scott Cook, founder, Intuit

Observation is the big game

changer in our company.

Observedifferentenvironments

Observe theworld aroundyou

Connectcommonthreads


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Learning from Anthropologists

Observe someone trying to do a job

Gain insight and understanding about the job to bedone

Functional, Social, Emotional dimensions

Find a better way to do it.

Two different types of observations

Watching people in different circumstances who are

trying to do a job and gaining insight about what jobthey really want to get done.

Observing people, processes, companies, ortechnologies and seeing a solution that can be applied(perhaps with some modification) in a different context.

Framework for Observing: Look forthe Job and a Better Way to Do It


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Developing Observational Skills

Actively watch consumers to see whatproducts they hire to do what jobs

Learn to look for surprises or anomalies.

Find opportunities to observe in a new

environment.

Framework for Observing: Look forthe Job and a Better Way to Do It


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Workaround

Partial or incomplete

solutions Pay attention and

identify them

May lead tocompletely new

idea

Actively Watch Customers-and

Look for Workarounds


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Customers unintended use of the

product or service

Can provide clues to why it is not acomplete solution.

Look for the unexpected

Multisensory Experience

Engage all of your senses.

Look for surprises


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Try to put yourself in a new

environment

Countries, museums, conferences

Dont just look, but observe.

Change the environment


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Observe companies.

Observe with all of your senses.

Observe whatever strikes your fancy.

Tips for Developing Observational

Skills

Observe customers.Tip #1

Tip #2

Tip #3

Tip #4


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He who asks is a fool for 5

minutes, but he who does

not ask is a fool forever.Chinese proverb

Nothing has such power tobroaden the mind as the

ability to investigate

systematically and truly all

that comes under thyobservation in life.

Marcus Aurelius

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