BECOMING TODAY’S INNOVATOR

A Workbook to Develop and Level Up the Behaviors for Innovation Leadership

Believe it or not, innovation is something that is accessible and achievable by anyone, no matter what you’re working on and no matter where you sit in your organization. Innovation is far more than something that is created. Innovation is a mindset. It’s a way of approaching and solving problems creatively. By developing your skills as a driver of change in a modern, complex organization, you are Becoming Today’s Innovator.

In this workbook, you’ll learn about eight roles we’ve identified for innovators to play. We call these the Today’s Innovator Profiles:

• Expert - Applies deep subject matter expertise to well-defined problems

• Connector - The visionary, creative genius, connecting people and ideas

• Initiator - Change agent who relentlessly pursues strategic objectives

• Observer - Constantly aware, questioning, listening, and learning

• Teammate - Supports others and makes offers to achieve team objectives

• Agitator - Upsets the status quo to inspire new thinking

• Champion - Negotiates power structures to influence decisions

• Architect - Designs the environment for others to succeed

Skilled innovators quickly and effortlessly shift their behavior across all of these roles as they ask themselves, “How do I need to show up right now?” They work this way, morphing from one role to another, every day, every hour, even every conversation.

Let’s explore what this might look like in practice. Imagine you’ve organized a brainstorming session to solve a problem that requires an innovative solution. By utilizing the Today’s Innovator Profiles, you can design and execute a highly dynamic session. You’ll play the Architect role as you design the session. You’ll play the Champion role as you negotiate with external resources to attend. You’ll play the Agitator role as you design the provocative questions you’ll ask. You’ll play the Teammate role as you set up others for success. You’ll play the Observer role when you represent the customer. You’ll play the Initiator role when you describe the ground rules for the session. As you listen to the ideas flow you’ll play the Connector role and say, “Yes, and …!” And you’ll play the Expert role when you contribute your job-specific knowledge.

Don’t think of this as a cover-to-cover book. We’ve organized this workbook to go deep on each of the eight roles. You don’t have to go through them in order, and you don’t have to complete every exercise. This workbook is designed for you to document your ideas, reflect on your actions, and think about how others act. It will push you to try new things as you commit to change yourself. Eventually, you'll level up your behaviors to become an innovation leader—to become Today's Innovator.