The Human Side of Innovation Discussion Guide

This is a series of questions that you can ask yourself, use to assess your teams, or leverage to appraise the culture of an entire organization. Are you people in love with people?

Am I Driving Innovation with a Human-Centered Approach?

• In my innovation projects, am I putting the creation of value for people as my ultimate goal? Or I am compromising too much, creating average solutions that I will then try to protect with barriers to entry?

• Am I trying to commercialize a technology just because it’s in my pipeline and it’s unique, or affordable, or defendable—but the technology doesn’t deliver authentic value for people?

• Am I trying to commercialize a brand even if it doesn’t resonate with people—just because I own it?

• Do I know how to use the mix of empathy, strategy, and prototyping to drive innovation? Let’s share an example of how I do this.

• Do I prototype often—through sketches, quick mock-ups, and real prototypes?

• Do I frequently use prototypes to validate ideas with end users, to align the team members, to excite others, to unlock sponsorship?

• In my innovation project, does my company have the right culture to embrace the change I am proposing? If not, what’s my plan to change the culture?

• In my innovation project, does my company have the right business model to support the solution (product, brand, service) that I am proposing? If not, what’s my plan to change the current model or build a new one in parallel?

• In my innovation project, does my company have the right processes and technologies to support the change I am proposing? If not, what’s my plan to build or acquire those processes or technologies?

• Am I using the three lenses of innovation—desirability, feasibility, viability—during my innovation project, from start to end?

• Am I using the right criteria to assess the innovation mindset of the people assigned to my innovation project?

Am I a Unicorn? Am I Doing Everything I Can to Become One?

Entrepreneurial Gifts

• Am I able to balance vision, experimentation, and execution?

• Do I have an original and unique perspective on things (briefs, issues, opportunities)?

• Do I trust my intuition?

• Am I able to combine intuition and analysis in everything I do?

• Starting from intuition, am I able to use a more analytical approach to build my plans?

• Am I proactive in identifying opportunities, no matter what my supervisor asks me to do? Or do I just wait to be assigned a task or a project?

• Am I always looking for the root cause, challenging the brief, questioning the question?

• Do I always go the extra mile, each and every time? When was the last time I went above and beyond what I was asked to do?

• Am I on top of the latest trends? Do I keep myself informed on what’s going on out there, daily? How? What do I do exactly to stay informed?

• Did I ever try to set a trend? Why not? Why shouldn’t I try?

• Do I genuinely care for the people I am innovating for? Do I really want to create something valuable for them? Am I in love with them? Or do I just want them to buy my product and make money for my company?

• Do I ever take a risk? When was the last time that I took a risk?

• What stops me from taking risks, and what am I doing to overcome that?

• When I take risks, am I able to protect myself and my team with the proper actions and protocols (the safety net)?

• Do I have good taste? Am I sure I do, or do I just think so? How can I be that sure? Am I really sure?

• Is your taste today the same or better than ten years ago? It should be better.

• If my taste is better than ten years ago, am I aware that my taste could be less refined today than ten years from now? And maybe less refined compared to others’ taste today?

• What do I do to improve my taste level? Did I ever ask others to help assess my taste level and to help me improve it?

• If I am a design leader, how familiar am I with other design disciplines that are not mine?

• If I am not a designer, am I hiring design leaders for my innovation projects who have a holistic approach to the discipline—who are not hyperspecialized?

• Do I understand both the business variables and the technology variables of my innovation projects? What did I do to increase my knowledge of business and technology in the past year? What am I planning to do in the future?

Social Gifts

• Am I kind to other people on my team or in my community?

• Am I always sincere with other people, even when it’s difficult? Especially when it’s difficult?

• Do people trust me? Am I sure?

• Do I embrace people who think differently from me? Am I scared by people who think differently from me? Think carefully; don’t be biased.

• Am I able to read the emotions of people in a room?

• Am I able to inspire people with my words? With my body language?

• Am I able to fine-tune my story and my words so they are more understandable by communities different from mine? For instance, if I am a designer, am I able to talk the language of finance, HR, or science? If I am a business leader, am I able to use the vernacular of an engineer, a psychologist, or an artist?

• Do I respect other professional communities, with backgrounds different from mine? For instance, if I am a designer, do I think that business leaders rarely understand my ideas? If I am a business leader, do I ever think that designers are not equipped to understand my strategies?

• Have I ever considered that I may be wrong about other communities? Talking to them with an open mind may be revealing and life-changing.

• Am I a storyteller? Am I able to share stories in a compelling way, inspiring others to follow my ideas?

• Do I mentor others? If not, why not?

• If I have never mentored anybody, what can I do to make this happen?

• Am I able to have fun? Do I find time to have fun at work as well?

• Do my colleagues like to have fun with me? Do I like to have fun with them? If not, why not?

Enabling Gifts

• Am I curious?

• Do I ask questions?

• Am I afraid of or embarrassed by asking question? If I am, then why?

• Do I ever pause to look at people in the street? At details of nature? Of buildings? Of objects?

• When’s the last time I paused to look at a stranger, and what did I see that was interesting?

• If I don’t remember the last time I paused to look, should I do it today, maybe for the first time in years?

• Am I humble? Do people think that I am humble?

• Did my arrogance ever stop me from achieving my goals? Am I sure?

• Am I self-confident? If not, what am I doing to increase my self-confidence?

• Am I aware of my strengths and my opportunities? Am I sure? Did I ever ask others what they thought my strengths and opportunities were?

• Do I listen to people, or do I always need to be the one talking? Am I able to stay silent in a meeting?

• Am I able to decide and act, without being paralyzed by (only) listening?

• Do I decide and act quickly enough? Do I ever slow others down?

• Do I see the glass as half full or half empty?

• Am I able to rely on my optimism to manage difficult situations?

• Am I resilient? If I am not, what am I doing to change that?

• What can I learn from others?

• Am I OK in uncomfortable situations, in transitions, in change?

• Do I like change, or does it scare me? If it scares me, what am I doing to find the positive in change?

Who Are My Mentors? Am I a Mentor to Others?

Let’s build my ideal metamentor. Let’s list a series of people who inspire me because of a specific skill that they manifest in an extraordinary way, writing each name and the skill next to it. That list defines my metamentor.

• Who could be my mentor by osmosis? Let’s think of all the people close to me and identify somebody I consciously want to learn from.

• Who could be my virtual mentor? Let’s follow the person; read the person’s books, articles, interviews; watch the person’s speeches. Let’s try to reach the person on social media.

• Can I be a mentor for others? Am I making the extra effort to give back as a mentor, for instance by answering people who contact me through my social media or by acting as an example for a friend or a colleague?

Am I Designing My Happiness?

• What defines me and makes me unique?

• Am I doing everything I can to share my love and care for others? In my private life and at work?

• What’s my purpose? What’s the cause that transcends my personal interest, my way to build a legacy, to be remembered for the value I add to others?