The Innovator’s DNA

As you move your NLAPH work into a sustainable mode, The Innovator’s DNA – Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen, provides a useful framework for skills necessary to move your ideas into impact mode with the mindset of innovators. The skills are the culmination and synthesis of research into the world’s top innovators across sectors and the authors synthesize these distinguishing skills as: associating (exposing yourself to a foundation of deep and diverse experiences to widen the “data” your brain pulls from), questioning (challenging assumptions and being provocative when asking why), observing (looking for the “job” and a better way to do it), networking (linking the ideas in your area of knowledge with those of others in other “boxes”), and experimenting (generating ideas about what might work in the future and testing them).
 
The book outlines how to put the “innovator’s DNA into practice” organizationally through people (balance of complementary human, technical and business expertise), processes (institutionalization of processes to reinforce behaviors described last week), and philosophies (strong values and beliefs around the integrity of innovation). These same practices fit strongly within the NLAPH model and can be utilized by your multi-sector team to grow and sustain your work moving forward. Finally, The Innovator’s DNA also provides a self-assessment as well as in-depth explanations and stories for each skill, and how it has been used in different settings by different innovators. The concept of multisector work is innovative. Harnessing the DNA to excel at this skill will support your capacity to sustain the work you have begun.

image from amazon.com