DNA of innovative companies

3 steps to achieving your authentic greatness!

We often get stuck. Get stuck in coming up with an idea, wait for the “perfect” launch strategy, or some internal narrative we tend to hold on to that delays starting out.

Ideas, by themselves are good. However, they also need to be put into action. Ideas need to be shared or acted upon to see if it can move the conversation, connection, or community forward.

When the idea is put into action, we can observe what difference it makes in the conversation, connection, or community. The idea can have a major, minor or no impact in how we have initially thought of in our planning. Reflection is critical to continuously get better and will help in achieving the end result.

Then we repeat : Ideation-Action-Reflection.

Airbnb’s co-founder Joe Gebbia stated that the company’s early days and exponential growth were actually fueled by a series of questions. Warren Berger’s book “A More Beautiful Question The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas” covers at length how Airbnb’s cofounders, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky went from jobless young San Franciscans with a decent apartment to leaders of the sharing economy. An excerpt from Warren’s book covering that section can be found here.

When you closely observe innovation at companies, research shows that innovative business leaders typically share certain qualities as mentioned in the “The DNA of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.” They are always asking questions, experimenting, observing and networking. While building on past successes, they keep the doors open to future innovation.

Hal Gregersen, INSEAD Senior Affiliate Professor of Leadership and Director of the Learning to Lead executive education programme says innovation starts with a question.

Tag: DNA of innovative companies

Ideation-Action-Reflection

Grooming innovative companies

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Nirmal Thapa