With findings from a six-year study surveying 3,000 creative executives and an additional 500 individual interviews, HBR Editors blog discusses an always-interesting-subject: How Do Innovators Think?
5 key “discovery skills” were identified:
- Associating – making connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas.
- Questioning – an ability to ask “what if”, “why”, and “why not” questions that challenge the status quo and open up the bigger picture.
- Detailed – they closely observed details, particularly the details of people’s behavior.
- Experimental – the people studied are always trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds.
- Networking – with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn.
These 5 skills can be summed up in a single word: “inquisitiveness” – the same kind you see in small children.