Checklists are really helpful ways to remind people around how to manage complicated tasks. Scott D. Anthony More Quotes by Scott D. Anthony More Quotes From Scott D. Anthony You have to chip away at it and shape it to let the winning idea emerge. Scott D. Anthony shapes winning ideas Most companies are built to execute today's business model, not discover tomorrow's. Scott D. Anthony company tomorrow today Data about an innovative idea is rarely crystal clear. Scott D. Anthony crystals data ideas In the face of uncertainty, many companies will default to asking their innovators to study and analyze, which can't actually ever provide a definitive answer. Scott D. Anthony asking answers faces Another key role the CEO plays is to focus efforts. Scott D. Anthony focus keys play Bring different groups together internally, send them out to visit other companies, or bring in interesting speeches. Show that you love learning by having people on staff whose job it is to explore without any near-term metrics. Publicly shut a project down and talk about what a great job a team did because they learned so much. And so on. Scott D. Anthony team jobs interesting The CEO should ask what he or she can do to raise the organization's curiosity quotient. One way to do this is to seek to learn more about current or prospective customers, not to figure out which segmentation model to slot them into, but to really understand them as human beings. Another is to live at the intersections where innovation magic occurs. Scott D. Anthony innovation curiosity organization I find social media as fun and engaging as the next person, but imagine if all the creative talent that was pouring into finding increasingly clever ways for us to broadcast daily banality (and then serve ads based on what is learned) instead focused on some of the UN Millennium goals? The world would be a better place. Scott D. Anthony media clever fun I have a fear right now that what I call the advertising-narcissism complex is sucking up way too much top talent. Scott D. Anthony narcissism too-much way We've got some great big problems in our world. We have to figure out how to feed 10 billion people. Too many people can't access clean water, quality healthcare, and reasonable education. We have to figure out what to do about climate change, income inequality, and more. Innovators need to rise to the challenge! Scott D. Anthony our-world water people When we are looking at ideas, we really are thinking of three things. Are you doing something that seems consistent with the patterns of success? Are there reasons to believe you have or can access the right people to make it happen? Can we play a unique role in enabling success? We all have our rules of thumb, I suppose. Scott D. Anthony unique believe thinking The sad truth is as difficult as the first mile can be for entrepreneurs, it is doubly tough inside most large companies as innovators can face some significant headwinds. Scott D. Anthony entrepreneur faces firsts The need to be thoughtful about experiment design is particularly acute within large companies, since some of the behaviors, such as having small teams and tapping into low-cost resources to maximize flexibility, won't come naturally to many people inside huge companies. Scott D. Anthony thoughtful team people People who live in more than two countries are more successful innovators. Scott D. Anthony successful two country If you work on a new product launch, spent time in a new geography, or work to develop a completely new skill, you have no choice but to figure out new ways to solve problems. Scott D. Anthony skills choices way Seeking chaos is at least one way to develop the skills and mindsets to tackle ambiguity. Scott D. Anthony chaos skills way Leaders today face challenges for which they are utterly unprepared. Scott D. Anthony leader challenges today In the face of uncertainty, many companies will default to asking their innovators to study and analyze, which can't actually ever provide a definitive answer. The decision-making systems here are meant to deal with the reality that decisions about innovative ideas will rely on patterns and intuitions. The best venture capital organizations deal with this challenge by staging investment, actively participating in startups they fund, tying decisions to learning as opposed to artificial dates on the calendar, and assembling a diverse team of decision-makers. Scott D. Anthony team organization reality I've always found that working through ideas in written form really changes the thinking. Scott D. Anthony form ideas thinking Three of our core corporate values are inclusiveness, collaboration, and humility. Scott D. Anthony collaboration three humility
