Innovation requires more than imagination.
The design staff of a lifestyle company where I used to work posted this sign on their door:
Question: “How many design directors does it take to change a light bulb?”
Answer: “Does it have to be a lightbulb?”
I saw this simple riddle daily for several years and it gradually and subliminally had an enormous impact on my approach to problems – every day and game-changing.
In fact, the wry wisdom expressed by that joke helped change my leadership style. Now, when managers say, “We have a problem,” the first thing I ask is, “Why is that a problem? What if it’s not? How might we make it not a problem?” Often, the key to finding an innovative solution results from re-framing the situation in this way.
We tend to think innovation means generating new ideas, but most often innovative thinking centers around questioning the status quo. Ask yourself, “Why not?” and then knock down those objections. That’s how you move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
Danger: Icebergs Ahead
Innovative thinking requires employees to be agile, and that means
identifying and letting go of their assumptions. It sounds easy, but everyone is susceptible to “iceberg beliefs,” which Dr. Andrew Shatté, Chief Science Officer at meQuilibrium, describes as self-limiting beliefs that are only barely conscious but fuel big emotions and drive behavior. They manifest as should-and-must beliefs about the world, and they are the sworn enemies of innovation.