In a crowded marketplace, creating new ideas can help separate you from your competition. Not only do new ideas differentiate organizations from competitors, but according to Strategy&, the global strategy consulting team at PwC, innovative companies have an 11% difference in revenue and a 22% difference in growth. Innovation isn’t easy, however. Some companies have tried it but it hasn’t worked out, while others aren’t sure where to begin.

If your company would like to start being more innovative, BigSpeak Speakers Bureau works with some of the top innovation keynote speakers and consultants in the industry. These innovation keynote speakers are bestselling authors, successful company founders, and thought leaders. 

Here are just a few of the ideas that these innovation keynote speakers can teach you.

1) Examine Little Daily Annoyances

Marc Randolph, the co-founder of Netflix and bestselling author of That Will Never Work, says innovative ideas come from “little daily annoyances.” Marc says to look for things that are broken. That’s where innovation starts. You get great ideas when products don’t work properly or processes are more difficult than they need to be.

2) Don’t Try to Be Perfect

Innovation expert and Chief Evangelist at Canva Guy Kawasaki says don’t try to be perfect. The first permutation of an innovation is rarely perfect. If you wait to make everything just right, the market will pass you by. However, if your idea is truly innovative, people will use your product or service even if it isn’t perfect yet. For example, remember when Apple’s first iPhone wouldn’t even copy and paste? People still bought it because the rest of the phone was so innovative.

3) Get an Outsider’s Perspective

Duncan Wardle, the former Vice President of Innovation and Creativity at Disney, suggests we get an outsider’s perspective to help us look at things in a different way. Duncan says bring someone to your meeting who has no expertise in your field. A non-expert will ask why things work in a certain way and help you identify areas you need to work on, sparking new ideas.

4) Share Your Ideas

Erica Dhawan, co-author of Get Big Things Done: The Power Of Connectional Intelligence, believes sharing your ideas is a great way to generate new ones. Dhawan points at Tesla, which opened its patents up for public use. By sharing its ideas, Tesla allowed others to come up with new solutions for the problems facing electric transportation.

5) Take A Walk Away From Your Office

If you need a new idea, get out of the office, says innovation and creativity keynote speaker Natalie Nixon. The emphasis on work productivity actually gets in the way of our innovation. Often, we create new ideas and novel solutions when we step away from our desk, go for a stroll, or take a moment for a watercooler chat. 

6) Kill a Stupid Rule

Bestselling author of Start an Innovation Revolution Lisa Bodell says to kill the stupid rules that impede innovation at your job. Ask your team what two rules are holding them back. For example, does your job require you to write too many reports, attend too many meetings, or include your bosses in every decision before you try something? 

7) Borrow an Idea From a Different Industry

Josh Linkner, an innovation expert and New York Times bestselling author of Disciplined Dreaming, suggests you borrow an idea or inspiration from outside your industry and apply it to your own. For example, scientists wanting to improve wetsuits looked at how aquatic animals swam in the water. They learned to improve their product by studying the skin of beavers.

8) Work Away From the Boss

Innovation keynote expert Jeff DeGraff and Professor at the Ross School of Business says nothing kills an innovative idea faster than the presence of an authority figure. Innovation happens when we are away from experts and decision-makers and feel relaxed enough to try new things.

If you would like to learn more ways to spark innovative ideas, contact BigSpeak Speakers Bureau to book a top innovation keynote speaker today.

For More on Innovation Read:

Where Do Innovative Ideas Come From?

The Surprising Answer to Increasing Innovation and Revenue

Hire People Who Disagree With You to Find Innovative Solutions

3 Tips for Creating Space for Change