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.The disruptive innovators in our research did precisely this, ei-ther consciously or unconsciously.They practiced skills relentlessly, 100092 99d 249-260 r1 rr 5/13/11 10:07 AM Page 254254APPENDIX Con almost anyone or anything they interacted with.The mystery ofinnovation is far less mysterious when people practice the innova-tor s DNA skills regularly so the skills become new habits.This takestime and self-discipline.So start with realistic expectations and ac-tively allocate time to improving your discovery skills.Most of all,remember that your personal development efforts send a serioussignal to your team and organization about how high innovationranks in your priorities and how important it might become totheirs.Developing Discovery Skills in theNext GenerationThe most important innovation work any of us might do is withinthe four walls of our home, the boundaries of our neighborhood,or the classrooms of our local schools.Why? Almost all the dis-ruptive innovators we interviewed mentioned at least one adult intheir lives who paid personal attention to their innovation skillsand helped nurture them as they grew into adulthood.That s whywe think it s so important for adults to honor and amplify youngpeople s discovery skills worldwide.Consider Steve Jobs s life.Early on, his father set aside part ofhis workbench for Jobs to experiment on mechanical things.Later, Jobs s neighbor, Larry Lang, taught him (and other inter-ested neighborhood kids) a lot about electronics by buildingHeathkits together (products like transistor radios that were pur-chased in do-it-yourself kits).In retrospect, Jobs realized thatbuilding Heathkits with a neighbor and exploring things on hisfather s workbench ultimately gave him an understanding ofwhat lurked inside a finished product.More importantly, Jobsacquired the sense that things were not mysteries and, as a re-sult, he also gained a tremendous level of self-confidence aboutmechanical and electronic things. 100092 99d 249-260 r1 rr 5/13/11 10:07 AM Page 255255Appendix CJobs was not the only fortunate one when it came to developingthe next generation of disruptive innovators.Jeff Bezos s grandpar-ents played an equally powerful role in fostering his experimentationskills during the summers on their Texas farm.Richard Branson smother supported his curiosity to carry on a family legacy ofdiscovering new terrain.Orit Gadiesh s parents and schoolteachersnot only tolerated her questions, but valued them.In short, disrup-tive innovators had one or more adults play a key role in keepingtheir natural innovator s DNA alive beyond childhood.You can playthat same important role with a future generation of innovators.Developing Discovery Skills in Homesand NeighborhoodsWhat better place to start building the five skills of disruptiveinnovators than in our homes and neighborhoods? If you take onthis challenge to send the elevator down, as entrepreneur (andfounder of Ariadne Capital) Julie Meyer put it, and bring up a newgeneration of disruptive innovators, here are a few concrete, help-ful tips.Associating Skills1.One game you can play, particularly when traveling in thecar, is called, What s the connection? Two people eachthink of a random word.A third person is the player.Oncethey decide on random words, each of the first two peopleannounces his or her word.The third person must thencreate a logical connection between the two words, but tryto be creative in doing so.For example, the words pickleand stitches might be connected with: We make sour faceswhen getting stitches at the hospital and when we bite intoa sour pickle. Similarly, the board game TriBond (distrib-uted by Mattel) gives you three word clues and asks you to 100092 99d 249-260 r1 rr 5/13/11 10:07 AM Page 256256APPENDIX Cfigure out what they have in common.(You can also tryout the game at http://www.TriBond.com, where there s anew combination of three words to connect every day.)2.Search for books that foster associational thinking.Oneof our favorites is Not a Box.The main character, a rabbit,tries to convince readers that boxes are not boxes.Instead,boxes might be anything, if we let our imaginations runwild (ranging from a race car to a spaceship).After one ofus read Not a Box to a three-year-old grandchild, he dis-covered him sitting in a box later that day.It was not abox, but a pirate ship! If you enjoy reading creative bookswith children, a few others are: Harold and the PurpleCrayon (by Crockett Johnson,), Ish(by Peter Reynolds),The Anti-Coloring Book (by Susan Striker and EdwardKimmel).Questioning Skills1.When most children come home from school, parentsoften ask: How was your day? or Did you learn anythinginteresting today? The second question is better thanthe first (in terms of insights gained), but what if youregularly asked your child (or neighbor s child): Whatquestions did you ask today? What questions did otherchildren ask today? What questions didn t you have timeto ask today? Then listen; really, really listen.You maybe surprised by what you discover.(You may also want totake a moment to watch What Is That?, a short video byMovieTeller films about how a father s and son s questionspowerfully affect each of them).2.Whenever you face a family, school, or community prob-lem or challenge that needs a solution, try using a modified 100092 99d 249-260 r1 rr 5/13/11 10:07 AM Page 257257Appendix Cversion of our QuestionStorming approach with youngpeople.Kids don t have the patience to brainstorm fiftyquestions, but they usually have the patience to brainstormten questions.For example, suppose you have a problemwith your child not doing chores or homework.Asking justten questions together about the problem can often yieldinteresting insights.For example, you might ask, Why isn tscience interesting to you? What can I do to be helpful? Your child might ask, Why do I need to know science? Why is science so important to you? This process ofasking questions about a problem can often trigger ideasor insights that will lead to novel solutions.Observing Skills1.Give children a chance to see you at work.You never knowwhat surprises they might have by joining you for a day.Pay attention to what they notice as they enter your world;become a fly on the wall and watch the world through theireyes as they try on the likely new, adult world of work.ForJon Huntsman Jr., going to his father s workplace when hewas eleven years old altered the course of his life.He wasvisiting his father, who worked as a special adviser toPresident Nixon, at the White House.While there, he metHenry Kissinger, who was on his way to a secret meeting inChina.When young Jon asked Kissinger where he wasgoing, Kissinger replied, China. Until then in Jon s life,China had not been a real place with real people.But hear-ing that one word from someone who was actually going toChina sparked a lifelong interest.Huntsman later studiedAsian history and Asian languages in school.In total, hespent fifteen years learning Mandarin and spoke it fluentlyas the U.S.Ambassador to China. 100092 99d 249-260 r1 rr 5/13/11 10:07 AM Page 258258APPENDIX C2.Take frequent walks in old places and new ones.Take achild on a walk and look at the experience through hereyes.What does she see? Hear? Taste? Touch? Smell? Youmay be surprised at what you ve never noticed before.Watch carefully for what surprises her; it just might sur-prise you as well.When traveling or living in new places,do the same, especially in moments of transition (just ar-riving or just leaving) when we sometimes see things thatotherwise remain invisible
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