Everyone can be innovative, as long as they know what it takes to innovate. That message was delivered by Lisa Bodell, founder CEO of futurethink, during her keynote speech Tuesday at ChannelCon.
Bodell, a globally recognized innovation leader and futurist, said that in order to change, we have to change our approach. But too many people and too many organizations are managing, not leading.
“We are not growing leaders within many companies; we are grooming professional skeptics,” she said. “You’re taught to eliminate risks and that makes it hard to take them. Thinking has become a daring act.”
In order for us to learn something new, we have to try something new.
“Get rid of things that don’t work to make space for the things that do,” she advised. “You have to be open to something completely disruptive.”
A good starting point on the road to innovation is to identify the factors that are holding you back from change. A good team exercise is to identify “stupid rules” within an organization and decide whether eliminating them or modifying them would make the organization better.
Another critical factor is who you work with, according to Bodell.
“You need to create a workforce that is prepared to solve problems on demand,” she said. “The future is all about who you hire and the skills you hire.”
Innovative people and organizations display some common traits, including:
- Proactive obsolescence – The willingness to change on your own before someone else makes you change.
- Strategic imagination – Dreaming with a purpose.
- Provocative inquiry – If you want better answers ask better questions.
- Resilience – The number one skill of innovators.
“Change is a choice,” Bodell concluded. “You do not have to do it. But do you want to be the ones who are taking orders? Or the ones who are influencing change?”
Steven Ostrowski is CompTIA’s director of corporate communications.
