an innovators skills

1

The Skills of an InnovatorExcelling at Innovation

2Copyright © 2011 The Inovo Group LLC.

Eight Individual Innovation Skills

1. Outreach Engagement– The ability to build knowledge networks to find the

most valuable sources of knowledge and connect and engage with them in interactive observing and listening

2. Dispassionate Empathy– The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes

and experience the motivations that underlie behaviors of interest. Being able to describe ‘why’ someone behaves the way they do.

3. Active Exploration– The ability to explore, discover and understand

new knowledge. To be creative in finding and interpreting evidence through skeptical curiosity. To have an innate ‘feel’ for both knowledge of wants (needs and desires) and of possibilities (technology effects and constraints).

4. Experimental Imagination– The creative ability to come up with unique, new

and compelling concepts through mental recombination.

5. Mental Duality– The ability to keep the whole and the parts in

mind at once. The ability to go from the specific to the general and back again at will. The ability to connect levels.

6. Qualitative Synthesis– The ability to synthesize disparate, incomplete

and uncertain knowledge using all of the three thinking modes, to create models of the complex systems that determine adoption.

7. Clarifying Storytelling– The ability to craft a compelling narrative and

convey both the rational and the emotional aspects of plausible futures.

8. Options Decision Making– The ability to make decisions in the face of

ambiguity and uncertainty. To recognize the probabilistic and complex nature of unfolding actions and accommodate this complexity by keeping future options open.


OUTREACH ENGAGEMENT

The ability to build knowledge networks to find the most valuable sources of knowledge and connect and engage with them in interactive observing and listening

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Outreach Engagement

• Connecting to the Right People– All types of individuals throughout

the eco-system

• Engaging them in the right way– Stories and metaphors

• Capturing the right knowledge– Emotional and rational needs and

desires

Copyright © 2011 The Inovo Group LLC.


DISPASSIONATE EMPATHY

The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and experience the motivations that underlie behaviors of interest. Being able to describe ‘why’ someone behaves the way they do.

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Dispassionate Empathy


• Getting at the subconscious– Probing tacit knowledge

• Extracting the essence– Gain insight into motivations

• Understanding personas– Synthesize into meaningful segments

PersonaDescription

The socializer desires spontaneous sharing and interaction. They want to know that everyone is seeing the same thing at the same time…

Structured Needs & Desired

Model ofValues

72% 28%

Kano Repsonse Kano Response

Experiences To Enhance Harmony MTB Lo

Convenience MTB Lo

Reassurance MTB Med

Safety MH Hi

To ModerateRepulsion LTB Med

Outcomes To Increase Hygiene Knowledge MTB Lo

Sanitization Efficiency MTB Lo

Sanitization Timliness MTB Lo

To Minimize Effort Required LTB Lo

Germ Exposure LTB Hi LTB Med

Emotional Rational


ACTIVE DISCOVERY

The ability to explore, discover and understand new knowledge. To be creative in finding and interpreting evidence through skeptical curiosity. To have an innate ‘feel’ for both knowledge of wants (needs and desires) and knowledge of possibilities (technology effects and constraints.

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Active Discovery


• Explore new areas– Quickly learn new knowledge to

a level that is necessary and sufficient for dialog and understanding

• A ‘feel’ for technology– Rapidly get comfortable with

new industries and technologies and be able to get to the essence

• Seeking evidence– Uncover accommodation,

discover activity and energy• Iterative path finding

– Quick and effective coverage of new domains

BacterialOr Viral

AlwaysSterile

BodyHydration

BodyChemistry

AdaptableFiltering

CalorieTracker

Body FatMeasure

HygieneAssist

AdaptableEye Lens

AnimalIllness

BodyEvent

SunburnDetect

PerspirationAnalysis

RoadSurface

Blood NanoAnalysis

ClothesDetect Skin

Have IGone Bad

Middle EarInfection

SensitiveSkin

Strep ThroatDetect

StructuralAwareness


EXPERIMENTAL IMAGINATION

The creative ability to come up with unique, new and compelling concepts through mental recombination.

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Experimental Imagination

• Recognizing opportunity– Confluence of wants and possibilities

• Creative conceptualization– New combinations, lateral thinking

• Connecting ambiguous dots– Finding surprising combinations



MENTAL DUALITY

The ability to keep the whole and the parts in mind at once. The ability to go from the specific to the general and back again at will. The ability to connect levels.

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Mental Duality

• Handling conflicting information– Plus-And, not Either-Or

• Moving up and down– Finding the ‘right’ level. Not

getting lost in the weeds or the clouds

• Connecting the levels– Understanding at one level

informs understanding at the others



QUALITATIVE SYNTHESIS

The ability to synthesize disparate, incomplete and uncertain knowledge using all of the three thinking modes, to create models of the complex systems that determine adoption.

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Qualitative Synthesis

• Seeing influences– Extracting the essential cause

and effect dynamics

• Imagining futures– Mental building and modeling

• Overcoming complexity– Dealing with the brain’s

limitations


EfficacyTP Knowledge

Phase IDuration

Phase IIDuration

Phase IIIDuration

+ TT Check

EfficacyFN Knowledge

EfficacyTN Knowledge

EfficacyFP Knowledge

FTMS SensitivityImprovement

Continue Development

+

TotalEfficacy

Knowledge

EfficacyTP Acq Rate

EfficacyFN Acq Rate

EfficacyFP Acq Rate

EfficacyTN Acq Rate

Using FTMS

+ Believed Positive

+ Beleived Negative

True NegativeSide Effect

Level

Correct Dosage

FTMS SpecificityImprovement

Estimated Efficacy

Estimated Neg Side Effect Level

Estimated Dosage

Missed Opportunity Cost

Dosage Est Error

Side Effect Est Error

Efficacy Est Error

Wrong Dosage Est Cost

Wrong Side Effect Est Cost

AP Fraction

FN Fraction

TP Fraction FP Fraction

TN Fraction

AN Fraction

+ BP Fraction

+ BN Fraction

Phase IKA Rate

Base Sensitivity Base Specificity

Resulting Sensitivity Resulting Specificty

Base KnowledgeAcquisition Rate

FTMS KA RateImprovement

Resulting KA Rate

Resulting KA Rate

Current Phase

Num Trials in Phase

Num Patients in Trial

True CompoundEfficacy

Phase IIKA Rate

Phase IIIKA Rate

High KnowledgeLevel

KA Std Dev

Overall Efficacy Knowledge (pos/neg)

Success\Failure MeasuresTruth

Simulation Control

Knowledge Acquistion Truth Table

Simulation State

Truth Table


CLARIFYING STORYTELLING

The ability to craft a compelling narrative and convey both the rational and the emotional aspects of plausible futures.

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Clarifying Storytelling

• Communicating experiences– Connecting on an emotional

level

• Distilling the essence– Insuring the message is clear

• Portraying the dynamic picture– Handling inherent complexity


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Halo3LaunchInNYC_BestBuy.jpg


OPTIONS DECISION MAKING

The ability to make decisions in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty. To recognize the probabilistic and complex nature of unfolding actions and accommodate this complexity by keeping future options open.

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Options Decision Making

• Decisions with imperfect information– Incomplete, ambiguous,

uncertain, conflicting

• Qualitative Judgment– Willingness to forgo quantitative

‘certainty’

• Options mentality– Decisions to keep options upon

until they deserve to be closed



THINKING

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Synthesis Thinking


Synthesis

DesignThinking

Analytic Thinking

SystemsThinking

Empathy with users to create compelling

experiences

Data and analytics to discover patterns

Cause and effect relations between entities in a

complex system

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Analytic Thinking


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 …

Total Available Market

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Market Penetration % % % % % % % % %

% share % % % % % % % % %

Average Sell Price $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Revenue $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Cost $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

A ‘typical’ market analysis spreadsheet

Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case.

Douglas Bowman - ex. Google designer

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Systems Thinking

• Understanding Cause And Effect

• Taking into account the complete ecosystem

• Accommodating the aspects of complex systems – emergence and non-linearity


Wal-mart Retail Link

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Design Thinking

• Experience over Function

• Empathy over Attributes• Elegance over Features• Engagement over

Usability

The essential ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success. A creative process based around the "building up" of ideas where judgments are delayed until necessary.


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Synthesis Thinking


Artifact & Adoption

DesignThinking

Analytic Thinking

SystemThinking

Empathy with users to create compelling

experiencesTransformation of the reading experience

Data and analysis to discover patterns# readers, # books,

demographics, income …

Cause and effect relations between entities in a

complex systemBuilt-in 3G, books in seconds, publishers , authors, reviewers, …

an innovators skills

Education

creative ability

inovo group llc

knowledge networks

uncertain knowledge

right knowledge emotional

right level

new andcompelling concepts

right people