Kawasaki on Teaching Innovation.

A write up of a recent Guy Kawasaki speech on teaching innovation is here.

I am particularly persuaded by numbers 3 and 5. When he counsels to "jump to the next curve," he running against the grain which so often drives us all toward incremental improvements. Incremental improvement is great, but it won't change the world and nor will it save a company. Regression toward the mean applies to firms and their adaptability of new business models, cost structures etc. just as much as it does all of those statistical tests you ran in college. Radical innovation -- systemic innovation, not incremental innovation -- requires a firm to become an outlier.

Surprising to me that he has no mention of how successful innovation requires a tolerance for failure. Excellent innovation practices are like excellence in other areas of human endeavor -- hard to master and requiring a great deal of practice. We all get it wrong sometimes. Pick up the pieces and move on with new insights on how to get it right.

The end of the essay has a list of things he would have educators teach kids. This too is interesting. In particular, numbers 3, 9, and 10 resonated with me. RE: One page report. During my first internship so many years ago, I was told that the most important skill for success in Washington policy circles was the ability to write an outstanding one page memo. It is still true today.