Establish An Input Practice
“For thirty-five years, I’ve been tracking down people about whom I was curious and asking them if I could sit down for an hour. I’ve had as few as a dozen curiosity conversations in a year, but sometimes I’ve done them as often as once a week. My goal was always at least one every two weeks… I never meet anyone with a movie in mind. The goal for me is to learn something.”
— A Curious Mind, memoir of Academy Award-winning producer, Brian Grazer
Brian Grazer's lifelong commitment to engaging with diverse perspectives exemplifies the power of curiosity. Inspired by the inspiration-seeking ethos behind Ben Franklin’s Junto, Brian has made it such a priority to seek out new viewpoints, that he has a full-time employee dedicated to scheduling these meetings. It’s that important to him.
He’s not alone. The most outstanding innovators I’ve studied have some kind of input practice.
Consider the approach of one exceptional CEO we interviewed for Ideaflow, who grew his company’s market cap by 10x in a decade. One unexpected tactic he credits with outsized impact: he meets with external entrepreneurs every week.
But here’s the rub: it’s not strictly efficient.
He told us, “90% of the time, it can feel like wasted time. But 10% is solid gold. It’s probably the least efficient process in the world, but I don’t know of a better way to get fresh input. I probably have more meetings with founders outside the organization than I do with my direct reports.”
The quality of our thinking is deeply influenced by the diversity of the inputs we collect. Implementing practices like these ensures innovators are well-equipped with varied raw material for problem-solving.
It’s well-known that you need a steady stream of ideas to drive innovation. But where do they come from? It’s table stakes for innovation to set ambitious output quotas. True masters are just as rigorous about inputs, too.
It’s a delicate balance.
Related: Form A Junto
Related: Wander With Purpose
Related: Be Inefficient
Related: Balance Input & Output
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Growth mindset expert Diane Flynn shares insights and advice for a more experienced generation of workers who might feel somewhat hesitant to embrace the collaborative superpowers of GenAI.