Curiosity as a catalyst for the Innovation process

Innovation usually occurs when problems start to accumulate and the current paradigm is no longer capable of producing results capable of meeting the growing needs of progressive demographic complexity.

And one of the factors that fuels innovation is precisely the experimentation factor, which allows testing new ideas and hypotheses to solve different problems quickly, cheaply and in a way that generates learning in the process. 

Curiosity is an important characteristic in the choice of members to compose the innovation teams, as it is the flame that keeps the desire to deepen and explore new possibilities alight.

And incredible as it may seem, it is a characteristic not necessarily innate, that is, it can be nurtured and developed by the deliberate desire to know more and more the inherent complexity of the world and its interrelations. And it also comes in different forms.

There are restless people who manifest this caractheristic in the form of a curiosity to explore the external world and others who are more introverted who end up exploring their own inner world through contemplation and reflection, and still a third type that is a balanced form of the two mentioned previously.

According to Prof. Dr. Carlos Nepomuceno, author of the book "Civiliza??o 2.0" (Civilization 2.0 in English), restlessness appears in rates that vary from person to person. Reflecting on this, I realized that we can say that restlessness, in its different forms, presents itself in rates that vary according to the circumstance, place and time for each person, but that the person through deliberate curiosity can evolve to a more entrepreneurial profile. 

The allusion to the term entrepreneur, is because it is a characteristic factor of entrepreneurs the taste for calculated risk, and for this the curiosity to always learn is a vital factor for this to become possible.

T-Shape profile and the development of a multiniche strategy

The ideal for the development of a person with a more entrepreneurial profile, is the so-called "T-Shape" profile, that is, able to move through different areas of knowledge, with a combination of the different types of restlessness, because beyound of providing the increase of a type of tacit knowledge that comes from the experience of contact with the external world and its manifestation on reality, it also provides the ability of processing and analysis of these experiences through the act of reflection and introspection that provides the gain of wisdom, being the combination of these, the ideal so that the frontiers of the possible and the person's skills portfolio can be expanded more and more through the development of multidisciplinarity. 

There is the expression "multiniche strategy", an idea applied to Marketing by Philip Kotler, which adapting the concept to the context of professional training, in my view would be that of someones who have a generalist formation and, at the same time, some complementary formations that would enable them to be a multi-specialist in some related areas.

With that, these people having multidisciplinary portfolio of skills, it would work with the so-called "lateral" thinking and be able to move among different areas of knowledge, being able to apply and adapt concepts and ideas from one area to another.

In more recent times the expression "STEAM" emerged, which joins the already famous expression "STEM", which represents the acronym for the study of Exact Sciences such as Mathematics, Computer Science and the so-called "Liberal Arts", which are disciplines of Human Sciences. 

This demand came from today's companies with multidisciplinary teams and the curricula of the Universities have not kept up with this evolution, which often forces the professionals themselves to have to seek complementary training, such as on-site and distance courses for Extension / Update and Post-Graduation.

Another recent trend as a result of this is the so-called Microlearning, where mini courses can be taken in the form of small knowledge pills that are easy to assimilate in a short time, and which aims to meet specific needs such as learning a particular skill that is being requested by the market, examples of this can be seen in separate courses such as those in the MOOC format and on online learning platforms aimed at serving specific niches. 

In this context, a professional training that enables the professionals to have a systemic view and, with that, to be able to extract relevant information from the data generated, and in the process, to raise and test hypotheses, to map scenarios, and to generate recommendations and actionable insights, it will be essential for the creation of a virtuous cycle of knowledge generation, thus, increasing the competitiveness and intellectual capital of professionals and consequently of organizations worldwide.

Autonomy with responsibility and trend analysis

Constant evolution will be a premise of the 21st century, the Future of Work will demand greater autonomy from the individual in order to keep up to date, requiring the development of skills such as focus, discipline, persistence, consistency and continued execution for a career of continuous learning and constant challenges. What ends up generating a positive externality, of increased motivation and personal satisfaction in the process. 

The restlessness, that we can understand as the manifest curiosity in always looking for challenges, represents a characteristic of being able to take calculated risks, the autonomy with responsibility, and I understand to be a driving force that provides greater protagonism to the individuals in their career path, being a catalyst factor of change, which can provide a journey of growth and great achievements.

This process can vary, as restlessness in some cases can be a long-term path that takes people out of their comfort zone. While some discover this path due to the urgent and sudden need in the face of market difficulties, for example, in others this process ends up manifesting glimpses of opportunities that have not yet been explored or are still in an embryonic stage, which can be a strong indication of a megatrend to emerge.

It is interesting to note that any megatrend, when looking in the rear view mirror, is easy to connect the dots, but the analysis of the present with attention is an art, because as it was said once by William Gibson, father of the Cyberpunk movement: "the future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed." The art of observing the present attentively in search of trends, something that some call "Futurism", brings great benefits in the long run, when an opportunity is not perceived by others and calculated bets can pay dividends for a long period of time.

The fact that we have our references pointed to the present historical moment, makes us have a kind of myopia with regard to the unfolding of the facts in the historical cycle, and they do not always follow a linearity, quite the contrary, generally the major changes of course are succeed in major disruptions and then an accommodation for a "new normal" occurs. A friend of mine on Quora, Juliano Righetto, always quotes the phrase "we are short-sighted because we are brief", which exemplifies very well what I meant.

Thomas Kuhn called this "paradigm shift", that is, when changes of great impact occur in society as a whole, which leads to the rupture of the daily routine of people in the process, gradually happens an increase in consciousness and a process of change in people's “worldview”, which ends up generating new behaviors and adaptations in society as a whole in order to establish a “new normal”.

The enthusiasm to understand the world in its inherent complexity

Restless people have a sparkle in their eyes and an enthusiasm for wanting to make a difference in the world. The curiosity to understand the world and its inherent complexity, in my opinion, is the fuel for one of the most fullfilling experiences that human beings can achieve in their journey on the planet.

Dealing with abstract concepts, ideas and thinking about future scenarios encourages them to want to advance on the frontier of knowledge and the possible. This process when fed back is a lever to stimulate innovation and anticipate trends. It is not enough for these people the same routine everyday, without feeling challenged.

Enthusiasm, that inner strength that nourishes and makes the person to persevere, must be cultivated and stimulated, in order to be able to spread the seed of the search for knowledge in other people and create a virtuous circle.

Growth Mindset as a competitive differential

This fact is also linked to what is known as Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset, in which the fixed Mindset person tends to be more stubborn in the face of changes, generally only making a important decision at the last moment, which often leads to the occurrence of sub-optimal decisions or with not-so-good results. While the growth mindset person does not expect the situation to get complicated, making decisions in due time, in order to be able to anticipate possible changes in the scenario and to be able to maximize the benefits generated by this in the process.

So, basically, the Future of Work market tends to require a professional who can learn continuously, the so-called "Life Long Learning", who knows how to unlearn the old and learn the new, who knows how to develop both technical and socio-emotional skills.

That is, in addition to having to know how to work as a team, one will have to learn more and more how to deal with complex challenges, to seek on their own the necessary information to solve a problem or when one can't, to know how to ask for help, not being afraid to demonstrate vulnerability, which is part of the continuous learning process.

No longer staying in the old way of doing things in the mechanized and repetitive world of work, whose function was usually to decorate formulas and "cake recipes" to apply in specific scenarios.

New scenarios, new skills and the multidisciplinarity

The new scenarios that are envisioned are complex, with problems never seen before, and require a different professional attitude, in which one must try to explore the scenario in small and incremental steps, in which one learns by doing.

It is necessary, therefore, to learn to think creatively to solve the complex problems that today require a multidisciplinary and also interdisciplinary approach.

In recent years, the ability to solve complex problems has been listed as one of the main skills in the World Economic Forum Ranking.

The creation of a culture of Experimentation allows Innovation to flourish and solutions can be envisioned, and this can be the basis for the social ascension of diverse populations in many emerging countries, where problems abound and in reality accumulate in droves, and they can be the source of demand needed for the progress sought by these populations in the coming decades, generating more value for everyone in the process.

Finally, the search for wisdom is a journey, in which we must begin by asking ourselves the best possible questions, in order to establish the way to achieve new and better answers to the challenges of yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

References

Book: Civiliza??o 2.0: por que estamos sendo obrigados a imitar as formigas? (Portuguese Edition)

Book: Kotler on Marketing by Philip Kotler (1999-06-07)

Book: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Book: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (50th Anniversary Edition)

Book: The Third Wave

Início | BIMODAIS - FUTURISMO COMPETITIVO

Continuous Experimentation and the Bimodal Innovation Cycle | LinkedIn

The Digital Skill gap in the Digital Era | LinkedIn

“Leaving the Matrix: The Curator’s Way” | LinkedIn

A look at the Future of Work and the so-called "Society 5.0" | LinkedIn

Eureka effect— Innovation and the process of “insight” | LinkedIn

(131) Juliano Righetto - Quora

William Gibson - Wikiquote

About the Author - Renato Azevedo Sant Anna

Digital Business & Insights Consultant, Thinker and Curator about the VUCA World, with a natural curiosity about the World and its complexity, multidisciplinary knowledge and the ability to produce actionable recommendations and insights about the competitive landscape.

Also a Mentor, Content producer (content writer), Instructor and Speaker on topics related to The Digital Era, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Future of Work, Artificial Intelligence Applications for Business and Consumer Behavior on digital channels.