WHAT DOES INNOVATION MEAN?
WHAT IS NEEDED TO INNOVATE?
WHY TO INNOVATE?
In case you read the first part of this “Innovation Unveiled” series, I know I left you with some unanswered questions.
(If you missed it – go catch up here!)
When I approached this topic, aside from wondering what we mean by innovation, I was interested in understanding what is needed to innovate.
“Creativity” was my answer. And given all the arguments I provided in the last article, I probably convinced you that it’s really like this.
Yet, I wasn’t completely satisfied with it, not 100%. I felt I was still missing something very important.
So, by delving deeper into my thoughts (yes – overthinking is an issue of mine 🙂 ), I understood what the very-important-missing-part was. How did I find it? By pondering these questions: if innovation is fueled by creativity, what then fuels creativity? Since creativity is not a natural trait for all of us, how can it be developed or enhanced?
The immediate answer I gave myself? Curiosity.
The role of CURIOSITY
I believe that curiosity stands before creativity.
Disclaimer: if the first article was more evidence-based and supported by relevant sources, here I allow myself more freedom of interpretation, and therefore any thesis I put forward can be easily challenged.
I see curiosity as the spark that ignites creativity.
Actually, I think the best metaphor for this connection is that of a flow.
- Curiosity represents an inward flow: it’s what we absorb, what nourishes us, and what we decide (more or less intentionally) to let influence us.
- Creativity, on the other hand, represents an outward flow: it is what we create, what we release, what we decide to build.
Why do I believe that, without curiosity, creativity is not as functional? Because the powerful inflow of curiosity is what fuels the outflow of creativity; that boost of curiosity is what allows creativity to ignite the best innovative ideas.
TO GET QUALITY OUTPUT, WE NEED QUALITY INPUT
As you may have noticed, in some lines above, I wrote that curiosity is what we “(more or less intentionally)” choose to surround ourselves with.
Within those brackets lies a fundamental concept for me: we do have the power to decide what to absorb, what to nourish ourselves with, what to be influenced by. However, it’s not always that straightforward.
Indeed, we often find ourselves mindlessly consuming whatever the algorithms of social media are feeding us and what the comfort zone of our way of living is providing us. By being perpetually overloaded in such a way, we fail to give our minds the essential whitespace to form the connections that drive creativity.
As the author Julia Cameron puts it: “When a creative artist is fatigued, it is often from too much inflow, not too much outflow.”
The solution is to be more intentional about our inputs, i.e., to be more conscious of both the quantity and the quality of information we consume.
Examples on how to do it?
- Quality:
- Subscribing to thoughtfully selected newsletters that resonate with our interests;
- Choosing audio content (podcast / YouTube videos) with purpose;
- Joining a book club.
- Quantity:
- Minimizing the time spent passively scrolling through social media (there are plenty of apps and techniques for it);
- Carving out time for dedicated reading sessions
- or for a walk in the nature.
By dedicating time and effort to the mindful selection of our inputs, the benefits of creative outputs won’t delay in manifesting (this series of articles is a concrete example).
However (yes, I’m about to add a new element!), original ideas don’t come simply by feeding our curiosity.
Curiosity is necessary but not sufficient for creativity.
We need something more…
As I read in one of my favorite newsletters (The Ness Lab): “While being mindful of the quantity and quality of information you consume is a great first step, changing how you consume this content is even more powerful.”
So, what else do we need? A proactive approach. And here comes one of the concepts I care the most about: the idea of mind gardening.
MIND GARDENING: A PROACTIVE APPROACH
Once we consciously select our inputs and decide the time we spend exposed to them, we can’t expect creative ideas to come out of the blue. To let them grow and enlighten our thoughts, we need to practically interact with our inflow. The concept of “mind gardening” is all about this kind of interaction.
Mind gardening refers to the proactive cultivation of knowledge and thinking. When we’re engaged in mind gardening, we treat our curiosity-driven inputs as seeds. Then, by strategically choosing where to focus our attention, we water and fertilize the ones we truly want to nurtrue. As a result, creative ideas will sprout like novel, exotic plants within our mental garden.
When I found myself shaping this concept on Miro by playing with icons, the design-thinking process I was in led me to define the following structure around it:
Being curious means looking for seeds of inspiration. Once we know where and how to gather these seeds, we can identify which ones resonate with us the most, i.e. which ones are telling us something inspiring, intriguing, and close to our values. If we then start to water these seeds, we allow them to take root in our mind garden and interweave with each other. From this interaction, plants will grow and turn into trees thanks not only to interaction with the other elements in our garden, but also with the outside world. This is the process that leads to the creation of original ideas.
To make it more practical, let’s understand its fundamental two steps:
RESONANCE
Cultivating the seeds of inspiration that resonate the most with us means collecting them and not letting them go. How does it happen? By taking notes, either digitally on our phone or physically in an agenda. This simple action allows us to capture the new, stimulating thoughts that cross our minds. Without this step, we are very likely to lose and eventually forget such realizations. Instead, putting them down on paper, whatever the form, enables us to keep them close, to make them ours – to nurture them.
I began doing this at 17 years old, using notes on my old Samsung – without even realizing I was into this process (and completely unaware that years later I would find myself designing a framework around it with a bunch of buzzwords). Over time, this spontaneous activity evolved into a habit: Samsung notes turned into Google Docs, then into pages in tons of agendas, even into screenshots, and finally into pages on Notion workspaces. Regardless of the format, taking note of what strikes me among what I read/listen to/see/discover has always prevented me from losing its beauty and potential, allowing me to revisit it whenever I feel the desire.
INTERACTION
The “proactive” aspect of mind gardening lies not only in the “active” consumption of the content we select, but also in what we do with this content. The truly interesting part, and the one that genuinely leads to the birth of original ideas, is the aspect of interaction. Engaging with what we have put down on paper allows us to come up with surprising revelations in 2 ways. We can interact with our notes by ourselves (e.g., re-read them at a distance with different eyes, integrate them with something new we discovered, make connections between similar concepts) and decide to make them interact with the outside (e.g., share them with others, discuss them with friends, seek antitheses). Both approaches allow us to expand and enrich our knowledge, giving our garden the space to grow creative ideas, i.e. exotic plants never seen before!
In this way, mind gardening offers a tool for clarity, comprehension, and connection. What a powerful tool is, isn’t it?
Thus, mind gardening leads to creativity, both spontaneous and deliberate (two definitions I introduced in the previous article). It helps create that “magnetic luck” for the generation of the “Eureka moment”; it builds a structured habit that is fundamental when deliberate planning is needed; it inevitably develops that mindful approach to connect us with ourselves and with the outside.
THE PROFILES OF INNOVATION
To wrap up everything (before delving into the final question that opened this Innovation Unveiled series), I draw this final scheme to illustrate the innovation process:
Within this scheme, I recognize the huge benefit of the compound effect. What do I mean?
I believe that investing in the quality of our inputs yields big returns in creativity (the development of ever-increasing brilliant ideas) with valuable interests in innovation (the implementation of ever-increasing cool solutions).
If we adopt a proactive and mindful approach to our quality input, we will inevitably produce high-quality output. This creates a wonderful “growth loop”, from which we can derive massive benefits.
However, it would be naive to assume that each of us is capable of excelling in all of these steps.
Indeed, due to our different personalities, we end up being either more creative or more pragmatic, either more inclined towards brainstorming or executing.
I came across the FourSight® test online*, which explains that there are 4 profiles of innovators:
- Clarifier
- Ideator
- Developer
- Implementer
The test suggests that just as we have preferred handedness, we also have “mindnedness”, i.e. we have preferred roles that energize us more than others in the innovative process. Just as we naturally grab a pen with our preferred hand, we tackle a problem with our preferred thinking style. Such cognitive profiles align with the 4 phases of the innovation workflow.
*Listening to podcasts is one of my favorite seeds of inspiration! The FourSight® test was mentioned in one episode of the Italian podcast “Hacking Creativity” (highly recommended!).
What are their characteristics** and how do they relate to the stages of innovation? Here we go:
- Clarifiers → They are extremely curious by nature: they ask many questions and instinctively seek data, background information, and evidence. They enjoy researching and deriving meaning from data and can spot the gaps and opportunities most of all. Their primary focus is ensuring they’re working on the right problem. Their drawback? They may suffer from the so-called “analysis paralysis”.
- Ideators → Constantly coming up with new, fresh, and original ways to see or do things, they are out-of-the-box thinkers who draw from their imagination and make intuitive leaps. Their strength lies in the ability to identify new connections and create an inspiring vision for others to follow. However, they risk becoming too abstract, because they tend to keep getting excited by new ideas rather than follow through on the one they chose.
- Developers → They are detailed-driven planners who like to make things picture-perfect. The complexity of things does not put them off. They patiently evaluate all options to choose the very best one for building a truly elegant solution. Their pitfall? They can be too nitpicky: they believe there is a perfect solution out there and they want to keep refining the plan until they’ve got it.
- Implementers → For them, it’s all about results. They’re the happiest with a task to do, a job to complete, something to deliver. They are willing to take risks and learn on the fly, according to the motto “Let’s just try it and see what happens”. Their strength lies in their confidence, allowing them to overcome obstacles. However, they may suffer from the ready-fire-aim syndrome, meaning they want to take action before fully thinking things through.
**You can find a detailed explanation of these profiles in this video.
That being said, it’s clear that ideators and clarifiers are fundamental for finding breakthrough ideas, while developers and implementers are crucial for translating those ideas into actual innovations.
Some of us may identify with a specific profile, while others may resonate with 2 or more. About 20% of people can relate to all of them. But it doesn’t matter. There is no best profile: they are all critically important to the creative thinking process.
What’s relevant is to be aware of our default mode when approaching innovation. As we experience a gravitational pull toward our thinking preference, we tend to stick to it. However, this can slow down our process and get us stuck. The solution? Well, it’s not about changing our personality, of course. Rather, it’s exposing ourselves to individuals with different cognitive profiles than our(s). This contamination and resulting collaboration can speed up the innovation process and strengthen our other traits.
For instance, I recognise myself in the profiles of the clarifier and the ideator. I genuinely enjoy learning, discovering new things, and connecting the dots. I can’t get enough of researching and redefining better what I find. It’s easy for me to cultivate my curiosity, find connections and create new concepts (and frameworks – as the ones depicted in this series of articles!)
When I proposed discussing this topic during one of our Digital Innovation Meetings, the project manager of my team welcomed my initiative and gave a presentation showing the results reported in the research study of the FourSight® test (check it out – there are very interesting insights). The discussion that followed helped us discover which traits define us the most. I was so delighted to learn that I’m in touch with so many developers and implementers! It means that I can learn a lot.
I firmly believe that innovation happens with practice and collaboration. It can’t result solely from online courses or enlightening readings. While these can help to shape the right mindset and broaden our knowledge, the true taste of innovation comes from collaboration, sharing, and attempts.
This is what I’m trying to do, and I can only be happy that I feel I am in the right context to grow in such a way.
WHY WE DO CARE ABOUT INNOVATION?
Final question demanding an answer: why innovating is at the core of our society (and of all the previous ones)? Innovation progresses with history, and has always accompanied every society. There must be a reason why we can’t do without it!
I can’t help but try to understand what is this reason through some philosophical attempts.
I believe that, as humans, we move into the world to find ourselves, to prove that we are real, and that we have a meaning and purpose. This wandering process happens through emotions because emotions are what make us feel alive. And how do we experience emotions? Through the interaction with other people, of course, but also by interacting with what our surroundings.
What might be wondering, what does this have to do with innovation? Well. I believe that this is linked to the core of innovation, to its ultimate definition. Let’s get there by clarifying what innovation does not mean.
Innovating is not about crafting fancy objects or developing cool tools. It’s not about flooding the world with new stuff. It’s neither about simplifying processes nor finding solutions to problems.
These are all natural consequences of innovation.
But at its core, innovation involves people. We care about innovation because it has the potential to impact our emotions.
Truly innovative products and services, those that change our societies and shape the world around us, have the power to change and shape our emotions, as well.
At the center of innovation there is never just a product or service, but the emotions that that product or service can generate in people.
Only ideas that rise with such a purpose, with such a broad and ambitious view, can be transformed into real innovations.
If innovative solutions produce emotions, they will inevitably impact our society.
All of this explains why I resonate so much with this topic. It not only feels extremely interesting but also truly exciting to realize that each of us has this kind of power: the potential to change the world (or at least a part of it) by sparking emotions in people.
We simply need to be curious, proactive, collaborative, and willing to make lots and lots of attempts.
How cool is this stuff?!
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