Out
there in the big wide world, people have broken boundaries in
exploration, creative thinking, science, transport, space and many
more environments. Combine that with the relentless questioning from
a young child of why, how, where or what? At what stage in life do we
start accepting the status quo and why do we? Shouldn't it be part of
life's excitement to retain our curiosity and seek to develop an
inquiring mind? Beyond that, isn't it those with lifelong curiosity
that break business boundaries, innovate and lead creatively and
courageously?
An
inquiring mind can be likened to being curious. It starts with a
sense of wonder, but beyond that it is the desire to understand
something, to create something new or solve a problem. In the words
of John Sculley (former CEO of Apple) “Curiosity is wanting to
understand something that you don't know something about; and
hopefully a lot of other people don't either because it means you can
really break new ground.”
Another
quote I like about curiosity is from Jaron
Lanier
(Computer
Scientist, Composer, Visual Artist and Author) “Curiosity is the
fact that our minds are verbs and not nouns, that we're in motion,
that we're self inventing, that we're seeking, that we don't know
what our destination is, that we're reinventing ourselves.”
A
rare breed of individual never gets out of practice. It's easy to
find them; they're the most satisfied, ingenious and high achieving.
Four distinguishing traits work in tandem to set them apart:
awareness, curiosity, focus, and initiative – they're the
innovators and they have developed an inquiring mind.
Innovation
is the direct consequence of curiosity. It allows us to start with a
blank piece of canvas, creating, innovating, evolving an idea.
Building on successes in the past, but also not being afraid to
challenge, raise expectations and quite often be a maverick. It
transforms us all into designers, the opportunity to create new
approaches to problems, to transform a business model, a product or
service into something better, or perhaps into something entirely
different. It requires us to look at things in
more than one way, because it is the only way you get a new insight
into a problem.
As
a call to innovate, it's time to challenge yourself:
- Challenge and ask yourself if you wanted to improve the environment for innovation, what specifically you can do in your current role to cultivate that culture?
- Go beyond what's expected, stretch yourself beyond your current environment
- Understand the big picture, and incorporate it into your day to day decisions and solutions. Always think for long term, think for future.
- Don’t be afraid. Learn to deal with your fear.
- Innovation always involves risk. Innovation always brings change. Be ready.
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