Ignite the desire to learn

People talk a lot about innovation and the importance of building innovative culture at their workplace. But why did so many great companies fail to do so? Take Nokia for example. It was once the world market leader and commanded over 40% of the global mobile phone market back in 2008. For every 10 phones out there, 4 of them were manufactured by Nokia. What about now?

In recent interviews, Mr. Hoang Nam Tien, former Chairman of FPT Software, the giant technology company in Vietnam, shared his personal experience talking with Nokia’s senior leadership team on why and how they were left behind on the market they used to be number one. That’s the mindset of their people, the mindset that is named: know-it-all. They did so well with so many technological advantages and they thought they knew everything about the phone market until things changed so drastically. A company that was known for so much innovation has been struggling to exist because their core strengths were no longer their advantages.

A few years ago, my wife and I set on a mission to find out what we could do to help people around us be more curious about our world and how we could make people see the importance of having innovative mindset for their personal and professional development. We interviewed world experts from IDEO, SIT (System Inventive Thinking) and from design thinking practitioners to seek their secrets on how we could stay curious a little longer and what we could do to be more innovative in our thinking and doing. We shared those interviews on our YouTube channel so people can learn and adopt those practices.

Earlier today, my wife took it to another level. As a marketing leader for a global leading chemical company, her role is not only to show her customers about what and how her products and platforms could help their businesses to address the demands but also to create the future market of what it could be possible for everyone. She gathered a group of young talented kids and shared with them how amazing the innovative platforms could help to shape the future for paint & ink industry. By teaching the future generations on thinking and dreaming bigger in using innovative chemical solutions that can help to build higher quality products and to contribute to a more sustainable environment, she has inspired them to think more creatively and innovatively. That spark of motivation is important to let them know that the world is having so many things we don’t know so they can stay curious a little longer. A good lesson for us as adults to rethink about what we think we know.