Scott Berkun is a noted public speaker on the topics of innovation and creativity and is a best-selling author of books that include Myths of Innovation and Making it Happen. In an interview with Perspectives, Berkun answered this question:
What’s needed to move creativity from idea to action?
The essential elements to move an idea into action are passion and conviction. Ideas are lazy – they don’t do any of the work themselves. That leaves it up to the person or people who believe in the idea, and are passionate about it, to see it through. Anyone can talk about an idea, but who will invest their time or money in making it happen? Only someone with conviction.
Conviction is like a muscle. You have to use it to grow it. If you have a good boss or good co-workers, they'll help you, but there is a good chance you will have to fight for your ideas on your own. It’s no secret that most people are afraid of failure and being wrong, so they avoid getting completely behind their own ideas. But the only way to get better at working with ideas is to stand behind them, listen to feedback, and make them better.
This is what separates the people we call “creatives” from everyone else: They work on their ideas instead of just talking about them. If you have an interesting idea, make a list of the resources you need to make a prototype or to do a trial run of putting the idea in action. Money? Time? Skills? Then consider who you know that has those resources, and pitch them on the idea to get them involved. Or if you have the resources yourself, even better. The point is to stop only thinking about your idea, and start doing it.
“How to Innovate Right Now”
Throughout this issue of Perspectives, questions frame our look at creativity. In an essay on his website, Berkun declares that questions, along with experiments and self-reliance, form the tool kit of every innovator. Here is an excerpt from the essay “How to Innovate Right Now.”
Ask Questions.
The easiest place to start is with things you do every day. Simply ask: Who else does this, and how do they do it differently? If you only know one way to do something, you’re making a big assumption. You’re betting that of the infinite ways there are to do it, the single one you know is the best. I’m a gambling man myself, but I wouldn’t make that bet, as those odds, one against infinity, are embarrassingly bad. Even simple things like washing dishes or tying shoelaces have dozens or hundreds of alternative approaches in use by different people around the world. Those methods are all potential innovations for you and everyone you know. The problem is that people have to go out of their way to find those alternatives and bring them back.
Not sure how to start? It’s with more questions. Useful questions for innovators include these:
- Why is it done this way?
- Who started it and why?
- What alternatives did they consider, and what idea did their new idea replace?
- What are my, or my friend’s, biggest complaints with how we do this thing, and what changes might make it better?
- How is this done in other towns, countries, cultures, or eras of time?
- What different assumptions did they make or constraints did they have?
- How can I apply any of the above to what I do?
Many great innovators asked better questions than everyone else, and that’s part of why they were successful. It wasn’t genius, whatever that means, special top-secret brain exercises they did every morning, or even how much money they had. It was through the dedicated pursuit of answers to simple questions that they found ideas already in the world that might be of use.
Isaac Newton asked how could the force of gravity affect apples as well as the moon? And by framing the question that way, he made observations and developed mathematics related to gravity, something no one else had done to his level of satisfaction. Many of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions started with him asking the question: How does water flow? It was his many studies of rivers, streams, and the way water moved that led to his inventions for water-powered wheels, ways to move water in aqueducts and canals, and pumps for wells. Without asking questions and looking around, even at obvious everyday things like water and gravity, Newton’s and da Vinci’s creative talents would never have had a chance to surface.