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Innovators are persistent. Innovators often spend several years researching, designing, experimenting, and testing a product or system. They may experience several failures before getting it right. Sometimes they never get it right! Successful innovators see failure as a part of the process, and persist in spite of set backs . They utilize failure as a guide to success. Engage students in a discussion: How do you view failure? Do you see success as a long term process, or do you require immediate success? How persistent are you when faced with a difficult long term task? Innovators accept uncertainty. Innovators are comfortable with doubters and with following a path that holds no guarantee of success . Innovators have even been ridiculed for their ideas. Sometimes they are the only ones who believe in their idea or product. Engage students in a discussion: In the last lesson’s Ponder and Predict you were asked what the explorers, adventurers, and conquistadors of yore had in common with the innovators of today? Didn’t they face uncertainty or ridicule? In your career, would you be willing to trade many years of uncertain pay or job advancement to pursue your idea? How do you react to ridicule of your ideas now? Innovators are passionate. Successful innovation can involve many years of work, during which there may be little reward for the effort. Passion provides the fuel that keeps the innovator’s dream alive and keeps them working, even through set backs. Innovators are a passionate and ambitious group. They love their work. Engage students in a discussion: Have you ever worked on a project you were passionate about? How does that compare to working on a project you are only mildly (or not at all) interested in? How does this impact your energy? Persistence? Creativity? Innovators are Associational Thinkers. According to experts, associational thinking is a key trait of innovators. It means drawing connections between questions, problems, or ideas from unrelated fields . Pulling ideas – even just bits and pieces of things – from other seemingly unrelated fields, fuels creativity and finds solutions to problems in unlikely places. For example, a cancer drug developer may draw inspiration from the behavior of fish, or an automobile designer may study the physics of a baseball pitch to improve a car’s aerodynamics. Associational thinkers connect and combine nonobvious ideas and objects. Engage students in a discussion: Are you an associational thinker? How has associational thinking affected your creativity? What can you do to improve your associational thinking skills? Advise students that in this lesson, they will complete an activity designed to help them develop associational thinking skills. PRODUCT PREVIEW
Lesson 9 | The Trait to Innovate 158
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