25 Interpretations of Innovation

In business today, innovation is perceived by CEOs, executives and managers as the key to getting ahead of competitors, but as these interpretations of innovation demonstrate, there is a wide range of methods and strategies to foster an innovative culture. This collection of videos features top innovators and thinkers across many industries today, who take the time to weigh in on what innovation means to them.

As Jeremy Gutsche's keynote explains, which is based on his award-winning book 'Exploiting Chaos,' some of the most innovative and revolutionary branding and business ideas emerged during times of severe economic downturn. While some CEOs believe in the power of a substantial budget and a team of experts to kick-start innovation within a team, Jeremy sees value in experimentation and failure.

Echoing this idea is Steven Shapiro who sees expertise as an obstacle to innovation as it can often get in the way of creativity. Similarly, Roger Martin believes in the value of dismissing all logic on the path towards innovation. In his video, Martin discusses something called 'abductive logic,' which enables executives and leaders to be fearless when it comes to taking risks and making mistakes.

Visionaries like Guy Kawasaki interpret innovation as something driven by purpose and passion. Without a clear path or plan, innovative ideas are hard to produce.

The common message throughout all these inspiring speeches on the interpretations of innovation, is that there is no one definitive formula or strategy for producing guaranteed innovative results. So long as leaders remain open-minded, willing to try something new and accepting of new ideas, innovation is more likely to occur.