Putting the "No" in Innovation

I was reading Chic Thompson author and motivational speaker recently and a few of his thoughts brought back memories from grade school and beyond that are worth sharing. John Maynard Keynes once said "What's difficult is not so much developing new ideas but escaping from the old ones."

Innovation begins with openness to new ideas but if you think back to your upbringing, we had very few role models for innovative thinking from our educational system. When we had a question, we asked the teacher who gave us "the" right answer. In the innovative environment we ask diverse people diverse opinions for a kaleidoscope of ideas. In school we were encouraged to work alone, keep our eyes on our own paper and stay focused on the subject at hand. In the innovative environment we look on other people's paper by collaborating and sharing ideas, we form self-directed work teams and we welcome the brainstorming that our teachers used to criticize as daydreaming.

Innovation is an uphill climb for most of us because we are not used to being in environments that encourage new ideas and time to "daydream". If we are to some extent a product of our environment then we need to move towards pursuing one that encourages the "know" in innovation by putting ourselves in situations that encourage the opposite of the typical education system most of us were raised in.