innovation

engine


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also by tina seelig
What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20:
A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World
inGenius:
A Crash Course on Creativity

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innovation
engine
Tina Seelig
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Copyright
innovation engine. Copyright 2013 by Tina L. Seelig. All rights
reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews. For information address Harper Collins
Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.
Harper Collins books may be purchased for educational, business,
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Harper Collins website: http://www.harpercollins.com
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, and HarperOne are trademarks of Harper-

Collins Publishers.
first edition
ISBN 978 0 06 232704 8
14 15 16 17 18 rrd(h) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1


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contents
introduction vii
Inside
imagination 3
knowledge 12
attitude 23
Outside
habitat 33
resources 43
culture 49
inside out and outside in 55
notes 65

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vii
introduction
As children, we naturally engage our curiosity and
imagination in an attempt to make sense of the
complicated world around us. We experiment with
every thing in our midst, grabbing objects to see
how they feel, dropping them to see how far they
fall, and banging them to see how they sound. We
mix together random cooking ingredients to see how
they taste, make up games with ever- changing rules,
and fantasize about what it would be like to live in
outer space.
As we approach adulthood, however, we too
often forget how to be creative. We give up playing
and focus on producing, swapping imagination for
implementation.
The good news is it doesnt have to be this way.
The human brain evolved over millions of years
into a fabulously complex organ that is optimized
for innovation. With input from all our senses, it is
always assessing our ever- changing environment and
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the innovation engine
viii
generating fresh responses to t each situation. Each
stimulus, no matter how small, can jump- start cre-
ativity.
Let me demonstrate this with a single word.
Until recently, prospective students at All Souls
College, at the University of Oxford, took a one-
word exam. The Essay as it was called was eagerly
anticipated by applicants. They would each ip
over a piece of paper at the same time to reveal one
word. It might have been innocence or miracles
or water. Their challenge was to craft an essay in
three hours inspired by that single word.
There were no right answers to this exam. How-
ever, each response provided insights into the appli-
cants wealth of knowledge and ability to generate
creative connections. The New York Times quotes
one Oxford professor as saying, The unveiling of
the word was once an event of such excitement that
even non- applicants reportedly gathered outside the
college each year, waiting for news to waft out.
1
For so many of us, this type of creativity hasnt
been fostered. We dont see our entire environment
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introduction
ix
as a source of opportunities for ingenuity. Yet, cre-
ativity should be an imperative, and we should look
at everything around us for inspiration. Creativity
allows us to thrive in a changing world and unlocks a
universe of possibilities. As the renowned American
inventor Alan Kay famously said, The best way to
predict the future is to invent it. We are all inventors
of our own future. And creativity is at the heart of
invention.
For centuries people have questioned these natu-
ral talents and looked outside themselves for a source
of creative inspiration. The ancient Greeks believed
there were goddesses, called Muses, who inspired lit-
erature and art, and they worshipped them for their
powers.
2
Later, in Elizabethan England, William
Shakespeare invoked his muse when writing son-
nets, often beseeching her for help.
3
Ideas often feel
inspired and, therefore, it made sense to beg a muse
for inspiration.
Your creativity is, in fact, an endless renewable
resource, and you can tap it at any time.
After a dozen years teaching courses on creativity
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the innovation engine
x
and entrepreneurship in the department of
Management Science and Engineering at Stanford
University, I can condently assert that creativity
can be enhanced. A concrete set of methods and
environmental factors can be used to intensify your
imagination, and by optimizing these variables, your
creativity naturally increases. I call this collection of
factors the Innovation Engine.
The Innovation Engine, shown in the following
gure, illustrates how creativity results from the
interplay between your internal world and the exter-
nal environment. It reveals a set of techniques you
can use right away to evaluate and expand your cre-
ativity and that of your team, organization, or com-
munity. Using these techniques, you can improve
your ability to see opportunities around you and
creatively tackle challenges of all sizes.
The Innovation Engine has two parts the inside
and the outside braided together. On the inside are
imagination, knowledge, and attitude:
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***
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