Episode 17 – Innovation with Amarjit Chopra
On today’s show, I talk with Amarjit Chopra, the author of Managing the People-Side of Innovation. He is an innovation expert and has studied how innovation actually happens within an organization. Innovation has been called the greatest long-term competitive advantage – this applies to both organizations and individuals. COVID-19 is forcing organizations to get creative in how they respond to the crisis.
Our natural instinct is to point out the flaws in other people’s ideas, but that only serves to shut down innovation. You’ll discover that the subtle ways leaders react to other’s ideas can have a big impact on the innovation of an organization. In addition, Chopra talks about the “Idea Growing Process,” and why all good ideas actually start as ideas with serious flaws. He also provides actionable tips and suggestions for how to lead a team through a creative problem-solving exercise.
What You’ll Learn:
- Ideas are like ore or raw material, not finished products.
- How natural innovators take ore and produce gold
- Why you shouldn’t, at least initially, take ideas “literally”
- Why you should always look for the non-obvious benefits of an idea
- Why every meeting has two agendas – the task agenda and the ego agenda
- How to react when your kids offer up a “bad” idea
Books & Resources
Managing the People-Side of Innovation by Amarjit Chopra
Connect with Jit Chopra
- Email: ajchopra@earthlink.net
- Vimeo: Talk on Innovation
Connect with Sean Murray