4. Bet on technical insights.
5. Get it out early and let your users give you feedback to perfect it.
6. Allow employees to spend 20% of their time working on something of their own they care about.
7. Default to open processes; in other words, let users be part of the process of creating.
8. Fail well. In other words, be willing to fail and take from the best of the ideas on a project.
9. Have a mission that matters.
With the study of innovation and its successful practitioners, the more you read and compare and contrast steps and approaches, the more you start to see patterns of behavior and recurring themes. The various lists you find in the innovation literature reinforce the picture that growth and differentiation leadership come from:
A certain kind of person. People, specifically, with a belief in change, with confidence (not ego), with passion, with customer empathy and with a certain mind set.
Acting boldly. This means challenging the status quo and not being incremental in thinking.
A certain approach. It doesn’t mean striving for perfection but experimenting and being OK to fail on a path. It also means investing time to learn.