Being more innovative in the workplace, may simply be a matter of shifting how you think. According to BigSpeak’s innovation experts, cutting-edge products and solutions are often a result of simple changes in creative thinking. With these simple yet powerful tips from some of the world’s best thought leaders, your organization can go beyond what’s been done in the past to create tomorrow’s world-changing systems and technologies.

• Love what you do

“The world needs inventors–great ones. You can be one. If you love what you do and are willing to do what it really takes, it’s within your reach. And it’ll be worth every minute you spend alone at night, thinking and thinking about what it is you want to design or build. It’ll be worth it, I promise.” – Steve Wozniak, in iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It

• Stop doing the things that aren’t working

“At the heart of every great innovation is a great compromise: in order to start something new, we have to stop something old.” – Jeff DeGraff, in “What Will You Give Up to Make Room for Innovation”

• Keep your eye on the competition

“I like to describe innovation through an old – yet relevant – joke.  The story is of two men who are mountain-hiking when they stumble upon a hungry grizzly bear.  Immediately, one of the hikers takes off his backpack and hiking boots and proceeds to put on his running shoes. The other hiker looks at him and asks, “What are you doing?  You can’t outrun a bear!” The first hiker responds, “I know, but I only need to outrun you!” – Stephen Shapiro, in “What is Innovation”

• Take a chance

“Champions know that success is inevitable; that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. They know that the best way to forecast the future is to create it.” – Michael J. Gelb

• Be ignorant

“As a child you based your conclusions on your latest exploration or experimentation. Your knowledge was real-time and constantly evolving because your mind remained flexible and able to adapt your conclusions to your latest discovery. You constantly reserved the right to withhold judgement until further review. With this open mindedness you remained able to see things, not as you were inclined or instructed to see them, but as they really were. Perhaps even better than they were. Ignorance—even the voluntary kind—leads to breakthroughs.” – Erik Wahl, from Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius.

• Be patient

“I acquired a central ability that was to help me through my entire career: patience. I’m serious. Patience is usually so underrated. I mean, for all these projects, from third grade all the way to eighth grade, I just learned things gradually, figuring out how to put electronic devices together without so much as cracking a book … I learned to not worry so much about the outcome, but to concentrate on the step I was on and to try to do it as perfectly as I could when I was doing it.” –Steve Wozniak, in iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It

Want more inspiration on this topic? Read Forbes Magazine’s 9 Behaviors that Drive Innovation or BigSpeak’s How to Create Better Ideas Faster.

BigSpeak Motivational Speakers Bureau at 805-965-1400 or info(at)BigSpeak.com to learn more about Innovation thought leaders who will improve ROI.