When Sebastian Thrun, the founder of Google’s innovation lab known simply as “X”, set out to design a self-driving car, he was not trying to build a better car.
Thrun was exploring a very personal problem.
At the age of eighteen, Thrun lost his best friend to a road accident, having a deep and profound impact on him, and because of this, he decided to embark on a quest to save a million lives every year.
Why?
Because each year over 1 million people die worldwide in road-related fatalities.
Most of us do not think about a world without road fatalities because there’s a part of us that either doesn’t believe it is possible or perhaps there’s a part of us that hasn’t been impacted by losing a loved one in a road accident…
Having a DNA of innovation means caring enough to believe it is possible.
Sebastian’s caring curiosity led him to realise that the solution was not a car with more airbags or crumple zones, but rather an autonomous vehicle – a radical new concept in mobility.
So, let’s confront an important misconception. Innovation is not a process, it is culture; a culture of caring combined with a culture of curiosity.
No company ever became more innovative because the CEO sent out a memo or the “innovation department” held a brainstorming session.
At its core, innovation is about caring enough to solve problems that matter to your stakeholders.
Innovation is not about idea generation. My dog comes up with at least two good ideas before breakfast, that doesn’t make her innovative.
When leaders focus on freeing up people to be critical thinkers who care enough to discover problems to solve, then innovation becomes the norm.
Steve Jobs said: “Some people say give customers what they want, but that’s not my approach. I think Henry Ford once said, ‘If I’d ask customers what they wanted, they would’ve told me a faster horse.’ People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”
To be successful a culture of caring curiosity must be central to your organisation’s DNA.
What is the right environment in which innovation will thrive?
To assist with the answer, our Full Blown Innovation white paper takes the mystery out of innovation and puts forward seven practical steps which any leader can use to create a culture of exploration and innovation.
Discover what these 7 steps are by downloading our infographic here.
This framework has been formulated from TomorrowToday’s extensive research and our experience, spanning over twenty-years across almost every industry sector with clients in more than fifty countries.
Ready to explore how your organisation can build a true culture of innovation?
Get in touch, and let’s set up a 30 min call to discuss how caring curiosity can transform your business.
For the past two decades, Graeme has worked with some of the world’s most recognised brands, travelling to over 80 countries in total, and speaking to around 100,000 people every year. He is the author of 5 best-selling books, and on faculty at 5 top global business schools.