Seeking chaos is at least one way to develop the skills and mindsets to tackle ambiguity. Scott D. Anthony More Quotes by Scott D. Anthony More Quotes From Scott D. Anthony Companies get into grooves and they keep sharpening what they are doing, when in fact what they really need to do sometimes is to stop and do something completely differently. Scott D. Anthony sometimesfactsneeds I feel for today's leaders. I really do. They got to where they are by doing a series of jobs exceptionally well. And that doesn't help them at all with the challenges they now face. Scott D. Anthony leaderchallengesjobs Any leader has two jobs to do. To do what they are currently doing better and more efficiently (call this strengthening the core), and to do what they are not currently doing but will need to do in the future (call this creating the new). Scott D. Anthony creatingjobstwo In the strengthening the core job, a leader can draw on their past experiences. After all, in most cases they did the job of the people that are reporting to them! So they know when something is screwed up, they know the risks worth taking, and they know the corners to cut. But when they are creating the new, no one knows what the right answer is. Scott D. Anthony cuttingjobspast Creating the new increasingly is more than 50 percent of a top leader's job. Scott D. Anthony creatingleaderjobs I think it is only in hindsight that you can determine whether something is a mistake or not. Scott D. Anthony hindsightmistakethinking There is what Steve Blank calls the stage where you are searching for a scalable business model. Then, there is the stage when you have found that model and need to scale it. In the former stage you have to have a "beginner's mind," be in learning mode, and expect to learn things you didn't anticipate. Scott D. Anthony beginnersmindneeds There's a general belief that failure is the friend of the innovator, but I've come to view it a different way. Scott D. Anthony differentviewsway The curious company studies the anomalies or the unexpected findings. The company that isn't curious ignores them or punishes people who don't do exactly what they set out to do. Scott D. Anthony unexpectedanomaliespeople History teaches us that many breakthroughs were happy accidents. Whether that's penicillin coming from Fleming neglecting to clean his laboratory before going on vacation or the team at Odeon trying a little side project that allowed people to communicate in real time as long as their message was 140 characters or less (which ultimately of course became Twitter), the unintended is often the transformational. Scott D. Anthony teamrealcharacter I think people make innovation much more complicated than it needs to be. Scott D. Anthony innovationpeoplethinking The school at which you studied - design school, disruptive school, TRIZ school, user-centered innovation school, etc - determines the specific words you use. Scott D. Anthony innovationdesignschool Everyone knows innovation involves developing unique understanding of a market, thinking expansively to develop a solution, and then finding a way to test rigorously and adapt quickly. Scott D. Anthony understandinguniquethinking So many people tell me that they aren't creative or they aren't innovative, and it's just not true. Scott D. Anthony innovativecreativepeople Every great idea emerges out of a process of trial-and-error experimentation. Scott D. Anthony trial-and-errorerrorsideas People who copy what exists copy a point-in-time artifact, and if you are managing the process correctly you are already hard at work on the next thing. Scott D. Anthony nextprocesspeople Almost every disruption starts at the perceived fringes of today's market. Scott D. Anthony fringedisruptiontoday I've come to the conclusion that the core characteristic that separates companies that get innovation from those that don't is a simple word: curiosity. Scott D. Anthony innovationcuriositysimple People will try to copy what they can see, which is the final product or service, but it's much harder to see (and copy) all the intricacies of the business model that allows you to create, capture, and deliver value. And that's what you need to get right to really jam something down people's throats! Scott D. Anthony finalstryingpeople I think the most important thing to do is to recognize the fundamentally different circumstances of pursuing growth. Scott D. Anthony growthimportantthinking
