Quick: come up with an innovative idea!

If you’re anything like the thousands of students I’ve coached in the last fifteen years, panic alarms just went off.

But the truth is, the creative process is hardly a mystery – in fact, it can be broken down into three simple steps.

All too often, the stated “problem” keeps a team from innovation: the problem is the problem. Being willing to question the premise, rather than accept it blindly, is a critical practice for creative health.

Jon Beekman, Founder and CEO of ManCrates, shares an enlightened tactic for helping innovators find breakthroughs they aren’t even looking for.

Great leaders know that every innovation begins with a problem. Instead of telling their people to “bring me solutions,” they encourage folks to be on the lookout for problems worth solving.

Some problems can be hard to see from different perspectives. William Hardaway, a design leader in higher education recommends taking a light-hearted approach to exposing unexplored angles.

If you find a problem that matters, you’re well on your way to a desirable innovation. How do you do that? Practice empathy.

Richard Feynman advised would-be geniuses, “You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind…” Here’s how breakthroughs get started.

Legendary Stanford professor Bob McKim used to give design students a simple assignment: keep a bug list. This was decades before computer programming gave the term the meaning it has today.

Some problems can be hard to see from different perspectives. William Hardaway, a design leader in higher education recommends taking a light-hearted approach to exposing unexplored angles.

Where does the authority to lead transformation comes from? Innovation leader and Stanford d.school coach Bill Pacheco shares insights from a recent engagement.

To make empathetic engagements with end users as rich as possible, it’s essential to immerse in and observe the world of your user, and to do so regularly. Some tips from an outstanding innovation leader.

Talking to others is the surest way to find a problem that matters. And if you find a a problem that matters, you’re well on your way to a desirable innovation.

Due to tight delivery schedules, it might seem faster to skip deep customer research and just start building something. This is wrong. Empathy fuels both insights, and the stories that enlist enthusiastic collaboration.

Senior leaders unwittingly eliminate insights and ideas by insulating themselves from the pain their users experience. By removing insulation, orgs can feel the pain they should be solving!

Cultivating an attention to frustrations is a fantastic competency to develop. Because frustrations are often the soil in which new innovations flourish, minding your frustrations can yield entrepreneurial gold!

I decided, ‘I’m going to be open - whatever problems I come across, I’m going to try to find a solution for them…” Two weeks later, Lorraine was off to the races with a fantastic start-up idea…