Making Innovation Real

iMedia Breakthrough SummitMarch 2011

Interviews: The Innovator’s DNA• Michael Dell, Dell• Pierre Omidyar, eBay• Niklas Zennstrom, skype• Marc Benioff,

salesforce.com

• Scott Cook, Intuit• Peter Thiel, Paypal• Jeff Bezos, Amazon• Michael Lazaridis, RIM

Skills for Discovery• Associating• Questioning• Observing• Experimenting• Networking

Discovery: Associating• Connecting unrelated problems or ideas: Medici

effect• Understanding, categorizing and storing new

knowledge

Discovery: Questioning• Why, why not and what if?• Imagine opposites• Embrace constraints

Discovery: Observing• Scrutinizing common phenomena can produce

uncommon business ideas• Carefully, intentionally and consistently look out for

small behavioral details: customers, suppliers, competitors and potential competitors

Discovery: Experimenting• Doing not just watching• Tinkering is OK• Failures drive successes

Discovery: Networking• Go out of your way to meet people with different

ideas• Test ideas through a diverse network of individuals

Keys to Innovation• Passion for changing the status quo: “putting a ding

in the universe”• Fostering risk taking• Encouraging free thinking: devil’s advocacy• Breaking down silos

Three Key Questions• What are the barriers to innovation within your

organization?• How can you break down those barriers to create a

competitive advantage?• How can you foster a culture of risk taking and

experimentation?

“If the people running Amazon.com don’t make some significant mistakes, then we

won’t be doing a good job for our shareholders because

we won’t be swinging for the fences.”

Curt Viebranz, CEOad summos, Inc.

curt@adsummos.com