PCR UGH

Fall 2014, Issue 1
Yazhe Yang
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
Introduction 1
(Background information, descriptions,
special features and structures)
Class Sessions 2 - 24
(Outline focus on class sessions and take
home messages including special class
events)
Assignments 25 - 31
(Lessons from design thinking group and
small assignments)
Creative Confidence 32 - 35
(Specific detailed actions taken to improve
my creative confidence)
*Creative Confidence – Tom & David
Kelley
Necessity of Strangers 36-48
(Specific actions taken to explore, connect,
innovate, grow and to have an open
mindset regards to humility, curiosity,
respect and purpose)
*Necessity of Strangers – Alan
Gregerman
2
Innovator’s DNA 49 - 51
(Specific actions taken to improve my creative
confidence and discovery skills)
*Innovators DNA – Jeff Dyer, Hal
Gregersen, Clay Christensen
Start Up of You (I) 52- 54
(Specific actions taken to improve my
networking)
*The Start-up of You – Reid Hoffman and
Ben Casnocha
Start Up of You (II) 55- 57
(How it impacted and shaped my thoughts
regarding career planning. ABZ planning
framework to formulate Plan A. Developing a
B & Z plan but not detailed)
*The Start-up of You – Reid Hoffman and
Ben Casnocha
Assessment Results 58-60
(Discuss my assessment center results)
REFLECT 61-62
(Discus result from REFLECT. Select one
dimension and develop action to plan and
implement the plan on one dimension)
3
Steve Jobs Biography 63- 65
(What are the key lessons Steve Jobs taught
us? Address questions listed in Steve Jobs
Reflection Questions)
*Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson
“World Changer” 66 - 68
(Select five profiles from book and apply
Innovator’s DNA framework and summarize
the lessons)
Outside class events 69
(Discuss outside of class events that covered
creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship
topics)
How I Have changed 70
(What have I learned as a result of the course
experience? Project how I might apply what I
have learned)
Synthesis of the Semester 70
(Synthesis what I learned and what I have
learned about creativity, innovation and
entrepreneurship. Include key lessons and
takeaways)
INTRODUCTION
My name is Yazhe Yang and I am currently a first year student in the Business, Society and the Economy scholars
program. This Personal Creative Reflection (PCR) is my reflection and lessons learned from BMGT289B (How do
innovators think?) class sessions, assigned readings and several outside of class events. I took this class because I
wanted to learn about innovation. It is so crucial to America but people underestimate the idea so often. Not only so I
want to learn about innovation, I also want to develop my innovative skills as well. PCR not only allows me to reflect
on my personal skills and also helps me improve my creative potential. I am an introvert and very shy, I hope by
taking this class will help me become more outspoken. It also allows me to learn these different skills and apply them
to my daily life situations. I designed my PCR in a similar format of a newsletter. I named my PCR Innovator’s
Gazette to corporate the newsletter theme. By arranging in this format, I was able to place visual representations to go
along with my reflection in an organized manner. To be more creative, I also made the letters I-N-N-O-V-A-T-I-O-N a
different color than the original color for the headlines of each section. The headlines for all the major components
will be in brackets so they’ll be easier to identify.
http://timfoundation.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/02/innovation2.jpg http://www.cyroul.com/wp-
content/uploads/open_innovation_1.jpg
http://nc3t.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/How-to-find-innovation.jpg
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Section 3A: Class Sessions
[Class Sessions]
(Outline focus on class sessions and take home messages including special class events)
Just like any other entrepreneurs, Milton
Hershey was able to succeed after multiple failures
He was willing to take risks even if it means failing
over and over again. He took his failure as a lesson
and learned how to be better.
Key Takeaway: I learned a lot from Milton
Hershey and his ingredient for being an incredibly
successful innovator. He first started experimenting
with his milk chocolate with fresh milk. I learned
about his work, entrepreneurial achievements
including the mass market of chocolate. It was an
eye-opening experience for me personally because I
never knew a candy bar could be so innovative. I
learned in order to be an entrepreneur or an
innovator, I must learn to encounter several risks
and accept the failures in order to succeed like
Milton Hershey. I need to learn that failure is just
another step to succeed and I shouldn’t be upset
that I failed. I should be happy that I got closer to
I. September 7th
– Milton S. Hershey Field
Study
Summary: We visited Milton S. Hershey School and
Hershey Park. We learned how Milton Hershey’s life
was filled with invention and innovation. He
overcame plenty obstacles in his life and failed
numerous time in order to be successful. Through
Perseverance and resilience, Mr. Hershey successfully
opened his chocolate factory and started to make the
Hershey’s chocolate. Chocolate and Cocoa has been
around for centuries but his innovation revolutionized
the entire chocolate industry. This field trip gave me
an inside of Milton Hershey’s journey. He needs to
produce fine milk for chocolate because it was
considered a luxury product. Hershey determined to
develop a formula for milk chocolate and through trial
and error; he finally produced his first chocolate bar
in 1900. He has the ability to make surprising
connections across areas of knowledge. He combines
his knowledge of milk to make milk chocolate. As an
entrepreneur, Hershey also encountered several risks
and accepted the failures in order to succeed. He went
bankrupted twice before finally succeeded in making
chocolate. He did not just stop when he had his
success in making chocolate; it took him years of trial
and error to perfect the chocolate as well.
Milton Hershey also had an opportunity to
study how to make chocolate as it was practiced in
Europe. We learned that Hershey had an opportunity
to study how to make chocolate and how it was
practices in Europe. He saw the chocolate assembly
line and was amazed by the process of it. He took
risks and borrowed money to buy machines to make
chocolate.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6
/Milton_S._Hershey_c1905.jpg
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Class Sessions - Milton Hershey Field Study

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the right answer. Milton Hershey made me realize how crucial
and important it is to embrace failure and not afraid to take
risks in life. He also taught me different skills I can even apply
to regular daily life scenarios and practice these skills to get
better. I learned experimenting through trials and errors. I also
learned about association, when you make surprising
connections across areas of knowledge. These are the skills I
can practice daily in order to think more creatively and
critically.
Before coming to Hershey, I never knew just how
innovative Hershey is and how passionate Hershey is towards
his hard work. Not only did Hershey change the entire
chocolate world, he also donated his money all towards the
Hershey school. I’ve learned so much from this trip about
creativity and Milton Hershey was the perfect example.
http://petersonsontheroad.files.wordpress.com/2012/09
/hershey-2-2.jpg
Class Sessions Overview
I. September 7th
– Milton
Hershey Field Study.
II. September 8th
–
Introduction/Restoring the
American Dream: How to
Innovate
III. September 15th
– Essential
Insights From the “Masters of
Innovation”
IV. September 16th
– Cirque Du
Soleil Guest Speaker
V. September 17th
– Cirque Du
Soleil Show Experience
VI. September 22nd
– Psychology
of Innovation
VII. September 29th
– What
Makes Organizations Innovative?
VIII. October 2nd
– Challenge
Course
IX. October 6th
– Demystifying
Innovation: The Pre-Eminence of
Internal Firm Culture
X. October 15th
– Special U
Assessment
XI. October 20th
– Guest speaker:
DJ Levin
XII. November 10th
– The Start-
up of you
XIII. November 16th
– Necessity
of Strangers – Alan Gregerman

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II. September 8th
–Introduction/Restoring
the American Dream: How to Innovate
Summary: This class session particularly
emphasizes the point of innovation and education.
We discussed the basis of education is made
available to billions of people around the world;
only set of skill can help this generation’s
economy is innovation. Innovation creates
competition, a greener economy and also jobs.
Some main points from the class discussion are: 1)
Innovation is completely necessary for America’s
future growth, 2) Corporate America is doing
really well but many average workers are facing
challenges with unemployment rate, 3) American
dropped substantially from the list of countries
with the most innovation, 4) Other countries are
putting more money into nurturing new industries
than the US. We must do better in teaching the
value of innovation and the government should
keep up the latest manufacturing jobs by
supporting innovative firms.
In this particular class, we also talked
about the impact of innovation – competition, Jobs,
partnership, sustainable society and improve lies.
We also looked at what drives innovation and that
includes value of innovation, universities and
schools, patent protection, private investment,
budget allocation and also government support.
We discussed how to challenge status quo and
taking risks while questioning, observing,
networking and experimenting. These necessary
skills are all connected to associational thinking.
Expertise, creative thinking and motivation are the
three important component of creativity. In order
to foster our creativity, we learned about the three
important factors. The opportunities for play are
one of the three factors. We need to have fun and
explore the world around us and also experiment
with different things to foster our curiosity. Along
with experiment, we need to allow passion to be
pursued and we need to develop a purpose.
Passions can be evolving into desire in order to
make a difference.
Key Takeaway: I found this class very insightful because
before this class I did not know what exactly is innovation
and how exactly can motivate innovation. This class taught
me the basis of innovation and how innovation is so critical
in America’s future. It is so critical due to the fact that we’ve
been reliant on innovation for a very long time. Innovation
can also acts as a new engine for economic growth in the 21st
century. I learned that innovation is not just a word everyone
uses but it’s so crucial that our daily lives can actually rely
on it. Innovation creates a viable and sustainable economy
without pollution. Through innovation, we’ve been able to
solve many kinds of real world problems. Because
innovation is so critical and important to our country and
economy, we must do better in teaching the value of
innovation and the government should keep up the latest
manufacturing jobs by supporting innovative firms.
Innovation often involves problem solving, financial support
and collaboration through teamwork with different
perspectives. Different perspective can play such a major
role in innovation. I started to appreciate more on what other
people say and start to think through their point of view.
That gives me an insight that I never had before. This is also
one of the key takeaway from this class is to be more
empathetic.
Class Sessions - Restoring the American Dream: How to Innovate

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I learned that innovation is about the process by which new things are taken place. Problem solving
without creative element in not truly innovative and creativity must present with innovation. I thought in order to
be more innovative, I need to be more creative and that mostly includes expertise, creative thinking skills and
motivation. Through these three skills, I can practice to become more innovative. After reading the A starting
point to creativity outlined by Teresa Amabile. I gained more insight on the interrelationships between expertise,
creative thinking and motivation. Innovation is more likely to happy when I have the opportunity to play to
capitalize on the on the internal desire to imagine new possibilities and to have fun at the same time.
I never thought that child playing could explore new opportunities and develop innovative insights with
passion. I also learned from this particular class session skills of innovators. There are seven survival skills of
innovators outlined in the book. Most innovators are critical thinking and problem solving. I can apply this skills
and practice to think more critically. I began to think more and think more than what is on the surface. I started
learning how to think through others point of view and question the questions. The best thinkers usually study
minds and apply what they learn to their own. I have to make learning about thinking a priority. There are four
recommendations to mind practicing skilled thinking. I have applied all four to my daily situations. Clarify my
thinking by looking beneath the surface and summarize what the other say in my own words help me to think
more critically and gain more insights. I also stick to the point by focusing on the problem and not wander to
unrelated matters by being on topic around the central idea. Often times, I would also find myself question
questions and ask questions that would lead to a deeper and more fulfilling insights. Lastly, I tried to be
reasonable with my thinking by being empathetic. Being able to imagine the world from multiple perspectives
and have an attitude to put human first. Critical thinking or creative thinking can produce real innovations. I
often make connections, observe, empathize and collaborate with others. Besides critical thinking and problem
solving, I also learned how to collaborate across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability,
initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information
and curiosity and imagination. These are the seven skills of innovators. By practicing these seven skills daily, I
can easily master the skills of innovators with commitment, hard work and practice.

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III. September 15th – Essential Insights From the “Masters of Innovation”
Summary: In this particular class session, we particularly studied several insights from some of well-known
innovators: Clay Christensen, Vijay Govindarajan, David Kelley and also Renee Mauborgne. We also looked at
disruptive innovation by looking Clay Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma. It described how disruptive
innovation could drive transformations in the
industry. The book illustrates how growth-
seeking companies should deflect disruptive
attacks and seize disruptive innovative
opportunities. The Innovator’s dilemma is
choosing whether or not to innovate a new
product or continue with the current products
because there is possibly to new product
cannibalizing your own product line as if
now. Eventually the larger companies who do
not invest in the disruptive market would
sooner be left behind. We looked at how GE
is disrupting itself by reverse innovation and
glocalization. We also touch on how Steve
Jobs’ and Elon Musk’s successes come from the user of design thinking. The companies develop great products
at home and then distribute them worldwide. There are rapid development countries including China and India.
Products can create brand new markets in the developed world. It is also a process by which companies in
emerging market produce inexpensive goods and services to meet the needs of the poor and then repackage
them as cost-effective for western buyers. We discussed that disruptive innovation means improving something
that already exists. It usually introduced or successfully taken to market by an “outside” and it typically targets
an underserved and entire new market. The product is less expensive than traditional or current products and
typically advanced by an enabling technology.
This also brought us to the topic of red ocean
strategy versus the blue ocean strategy.
We looked at a flow chart with the new
value curve in the middle with four components
surround it: raise, eliminate, reduce and create. We
also went through examples like Cirque Du Soleil
and examined the framework. We also applied
Cirque Du Soleil to the blue ocean strategy. We
talked about how the company eliminates the
animal shows and multiple show arenas. It raises
the unique venue and reduces fun and humor, thrill
and danger. Cirque Du Soleil also creates theme
and refined environment. We discussed how it fits into the blue ocean strategy because it created uncontested
market space, make the competition irrelevant, create and capture new demand, break the value-cost and trade-
off and align the whole system of a firm’s activities in pursuit of differentiation and low cost.
Class Sessions - Essential Insights From the “Masters of Innovation”

77
Key Takeaway: Before this class, I did not even know
there was more than one type of definition. The ideas of
reverse innovation and blue ocean strategy were really
interesting. I learned from this class that disruptive
products are usually introduced or successfully taken to
market by another organization other than the already
existing company. This idea was really fascinating and
interesting to me. Reverse innovation typically targets
an underserved or larger market because it’s less
expensive and more accessible to the larger part of
society. I also learned about the difference in red oceans
and blue oceans. Red oceans try to beat the competition
and choose either between differentiation and low cost
while blue oceans try to make the competition irrelevant
and create/capture new demand. For example, Cirque
Du Soleil is an example of blue ocean strategy as
oppose to the Ringling Bros as red ocean strategy.
An example I looked at for Blue Ocean Strategy
is Google. At the time, the dominant search engines
were Yahoo and AltaVista. Google took another
completely different approach. It was very minimalistic
with their homepage with just the search box. It
completely dominates the search engine industry.
Google reduced much of the frustration that came with
the industry and provided much better quality search
results. It also offered a completely ad-free experience.
This company is truly an example of Blue Ocean
Strategy because it was once a startup running out of a
garage became one of the world’s most dominates and
valuable companies for several years. Using the Blue
Ocean Strategy really gave me an insight look on
Google.
I also practiced the trait of creative confidence
to formulate an idea or improve on an original idea. It is
so important because with creative confidence it will
make me have confident that I can change the world. I
practiced to have a broad mindset over it. I also learned
the relationship between guided master and self-
efficacy, growth mindset and creative potential. Guided
mastery involves taking small challenges in order to
eliminate a certain fear. Self-efficacy means undergoing
tough challenges with resilience and perseverance so
they won’t quit as easily.
Most people who experience guided mastery usually
end up going through self-efficacy. They are both
related to components of creativity. One last takes
home lesson from this lecture: having a growth mindset
is to believe that one’s true potential has yet to be
reached and still can be reaches and still can be
reached. Creative potential is the maximum innovative
ability. Growth mindset can actually help me achieve
my creative potential.
http://www.naina.co/photography/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Creative-
Confidence-Book-Tom-David-Kelley-IDEO-Stanford-Naina.co-
Raconteuse-Review-Photographer-Storyteller-22.jpg
Featured Book:
Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley & David Kelley
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IV. September 16th
– Cirque Du Soleil Guest Speaker
Summary: During this special class session, we had a
Cirque Du Soleil guest speaker. I learned that Cirque Du
Soleil started with only a group of 20 street performers in
1984. Over 50 millions now have seen the performance.
It is a growing company and it is also an international
organization founded originally in Quebec. The company
has around 4000 employees including 1,300 from
different countries! The core values of Cirque Du Soleil
are uphold the integrity of creative process, recognize
and respect each individual’s contribution to the work, to
extend the limits of possibility, inspiration from artistic
and cultural diversity and to promote potential of youth.
They are usually resident show and arena show. They
also offer big top shows as well depending on the ticket
sell.
We then talked about Amuluna, the performance
we were about to experience the next trip. I learned that
the story was actually inspired by Shakespeare where
Amuluna is an island only women occupy. A group of
guys got washed up into the shore. One of the main
female characters fell in love with the guy. The cast is
actually majority female actors (70%). It consists of 150
people on tour along with 46 performers. They usually
hire locals to help out in order to save money as well.
At Cirque Du Soleil, it’s all about creating the
magic. First it has to establish a vision. Creative teams
establish a vision and then they challenge the obvious.
They also always pushing the boundaries and do not
accept limitations. That’s why the performances are so
entertaining and all the acts are all so challenging and
daring. After the teams had established a vision. They
would put it all together. The team would practice,
practice and practice! The performers would develop the
figures and paint the picture of how the show would look
like. Last step of creating the magic would be making it
work!
Key Takeaway: From the speaker, I learned about
how Cirque Du Soleil creates magic. They had the
ability to create uncontested market space. Before
Cirque Du Soleil speaker came, I never knew a circus
could be this innovative and interesting. This class
had made me look at circus differently now. I actually
never been to a Cirque Du Soleil show before and I
thought there’s nothing too special about this circus. I
thought this is just like any other circus. I was
completely wrong after the speaker came. After a very
interesting session hosted by the speaker from Cirque
Du Soleil, I was able to learn that this is actually
really different about this company than other
companies.
I never realize you can gain so much insight
and learn so much from this business model,
especially from a circus. Cirque Du Soleil has truly
innovated the circus experiment and it has truly
captivated a lot of people. It also amazes me that such
successful company was started by a group of street
performers in Quebec. Touring one show at a time,
initial three years only in Canada with on average
270,000 specters per year. This has changed
drastically because now it has 2,100 employees, over
500 artists over 40 nationalities and over 30 spoken
languages. There are currently 6 million spectators in
2001! Its innovative unique show amazes me. It also
has flexible working force and devoted artist.
Cirque Du Soleil is also energy efficient and
the company tries to reduce purchasing power by
limiting number of touring cities. I find it extremely
interesting how a circus can be so different from other
circuses by constantly coming up with innovations.
Every show presented by Cirque Du Soleil was based
on a central theme with a supporting storyline
amalgamating different circus styles from across the
world.
Class Sessions - Cirque Du Soleil Guest Speaker
Class Sessions - Cirque Du Soleil Guest Speaker

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V. September 17th
– Cirque Du Soleil Show Experience
Summary: Cirque Du Soleil’s breathtaking “Amuluna” pushed
previous boundaries and established itself as one of the most creative
and innovative performance. The show overall was beautifully
composed and directed. 70% of the performers are women. Amuluna
actually means mother moon. The moon actually symbolizes
femininity. Before the start of the show, the performers would go out on
stage and actually interact with the audience. They would pull audience
into the world they’re in. This show’s song and choreography perfectly
went along with one another. At the beginning of the act, the goddess on
the moon would hang by her neck while swinging from a loop. The
main character Miranda twisted her body into weird inhuman positions
while jumping in and out of the large water bowl. She would also
balance on the pole, which it seems impossible.
Audience can actually see Cirque Du Soleil pushing their
limits and boundaries to imagination. Throughout the exciting and
thrilling performances, there were also funny acts in between. The
woman would fall in love with the man and she would suddenly give
birth to little football children. Meanwhile all this is happening, the half
human lizard tried to break the love between Miranda and her new
affection. Romeo, the main male character of the storyline, would
demonstrate incredible strength by controlling his drop on the pole
before hitting the ground leaving the audience in shock. Prospera
watches over all this action while singing in the background. She would
watch her daughter Miranda as she falls in love and becoming more
mature as a young woman.
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/sites/tcdailyplanet.net/files/imagecache/HugeColorbox/13/29/amaluna_cirque_du_
soleil_mall_of_america.jpg
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Class Sessions - Cirque Du Soleil Show Experience

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Key Takeaway: The experience at Cirque Du Soleil show had been truly amazing and a unique experience for me
personally. It was my very first Cirque Du Soleil show! It was very interesting for me to go to a circus and not see
any animal performance. I went to a Ringling Bros’ circus show before and it was a very different experience for
me because the two circuses were so different from one another. Ringling Brothers circus show was very
traditional where as Cirque Du Soleil was very innovative and eye opening for me. It had the ability to create
something new. Comparing Cirque Du Soleil to the traditional circus, Cirque has several acts centered around a
theme and usually include live music and elements of a theater.
The four actions framework can be applied to Cirque Du Soleil. Raise, create and reduce. Raise as in which
factors should be raised well above an industry. Create as in which factors should be created that the industry has
never been offered before. Eliminate as in which factors can you eliminate that your industry has long competed
on. The company applied all four actions framework by completely eliminating the use of animals, star performers,
aisle concession sales and multiple show arenas while keeping the thrill and excitement. Cirque Du Soleil also
raises the unique venue and reduces humor, thrill and danger. Cirque also created theme, refined environment,
multiple productions and artistic music and dance.
By following the blue ocean strategy, Cirque Du Soleil has also become the leading thriving innovative
company in the world. Cirque Du Soleil is truly a unique company because of their universal aspects. They would
also embrace creativity to the fullest and also it is a private company so it can successfully avoid pressure from the
public to cut the cost. They have mastered the important skill of associate thinking by making connections across
several areas. Combining ideas of theatre and circus, themes and storylines are added to the act and appealed to
adult rather instead of children. It also only has one ring and generates only 10 percent of the entire revenue from
the concession stand.
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VI. September 22nd
– Psychology of Innovation
Summary: During this class session, we first talked
about the Titans of Tech. Innovators behave
differently and they usually all have the desire to
change the status quo and even to challenge the status
quo to make a difference. They are willing to take
risks and also view failure as a lesson along the way to
success. One common misconception about innovators
is that all innovators have innate characteristics that
make them innovative. This is a wrong conception
because innovators aren’t born! They are made! In The
Innovator’s DNA, Dyer Gregersen and Clay
Christensen specifically described five important
discovery skills that can make you an innovator! The
five skills are associating, questioning, networking,
observing and experimenting. Through enhancing
these five skills, one can learn how to use these skills
to enhance their lives and innovative minds.
Innovators are so special because of their desire to
change the status quo and willingness to take risks and
see failure as a lesson to success.
We then talked insightfully about the five
skills outlined in the innovator’s DNA.
Five skills to enhance lives and innovative minds:
1) Associating – Innovators connect the dots to make
unexpected connections across field.
2) Questioning – Innovators are questioners and they
often ask questions to challenge the obvious and the
status quo.
3) Observing – Innovators observe intensely and they
watch the world around them to gain ideas.
4) Networking – Rather than doing just social
networking, innovators often finds ideas through a
diverse group of people to gain background insights
and perspectives.
5) Experimenting – Often experiment through
questioning, observing and networking.
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Class Sessions - Psychology of Innovation

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Key Takeaway: I find this very interesting because
the five skills can be applied to our daily lives. It’s
very insightful for me to find that these five skills are
what make innovators innovators. Starting out with
associating, it’s the ability to associate seemingly
unrelated topics from different fields. Association
allows people to cross-pollinate ideas in their own
heads and also in others. I can practice this skill by
connecting wildly different ideas, objects services,
technologies and disciplines to develop new and
unusual innovations. It’s all about the cognitive ability
to recognize and connect. The more diverse knowledge
the brain processes, the more connections it can make
when given fresh input of knowledge. It was pretty
fascinating to know that the associating muscle can be
developed through active practice of questioning,
observing and networking. I also learned that by
creating odd combinations could sometimes compose
surprisingly successful innovation. The second skill is
questioning, Creative catalyst fro the other discovery
behaviors. It’s important to ask questions to better the
understanding of subjects. It holds potential to
cultivate creative insights and promote new ones. I
never knew just by asking questions you can unlock
multiple ideas and opportunities. After questioning
comes observing. It triggers a new type of connection.
Observing and questioning can produce great new
ideas. I learned to pay attention to how things work
and why things do not work. By carefully observing
my surroundings, I will be able to gain more insights
about little things people would normally just walk
past. Networking is also one of the very important
skills. Rather than targeting people, innovators make a
point of meeting people whose lives and training give
new and different perspectives. People with different
background and different field are good to connect
with because it’s crucial to gain different perspectives.
The last skill set is experimenting. By repeating test,
develop and network ideas. I learned to seek new
experiences first and then build prototypes to test. You
need to act differently, think differently in order to
make a difference.
Innovator entrepreneurs optimally use
these innovative skills far more frequently as
opposed to the average executives. They usually
focus on the details of everyday life far more
frequently as well. Innovative entrepreneurship is
actually not a genetic predisposition; it is an active
endeavor that we all can work on. I can certainly
work on it by practicing all the five different skills.
The process of innovation also requires a
complex set of skills; deep understanding of
technological possibility, strong design instinct, a
clear grasp on the economic ecosystem
surrounding a potential product and an uncanny
ability to enter the head of a future customer.
Others may supply the inputs but innovators put all
the pieces together. Examples of great innovators
are Elon Musk and Steve Jobs. They both have a
“rare form of design thinking powered by
unfettered conviction”. They are both serial
disrupters and completely transforming their
respective industries. Jobs changed computer,
music and mobile communications while Musk is
decreasing the cost of space traveling and
sustainable energy. They both have an intense
obsession with details that causes them to do their
best work.
One other important take away from this
lesion is multi-dimensional thinking. It involves
thinking outside of your own expertise while
applying it to other areas and then being able to
pull all these ideas together to create an innovative
process.
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VII. September 29th
– What make organizations
Innovative?
Summary: For this class session we talked about how
IDEO used the 3P framework – people, processes and
philosophies. The secret of what makes organizations so
innovative is the three components: People, Process and
Philosophies. This is the 3P Framework developed by
Dyer, Gregersen and Christensen in the Innovator’s DNA.
For people, innovators who are excellent at discovery
skill and maintain a high discovery quotient people in
every level often lead companies. For Processes, it
encourages employees to associate, question, observe,
network, and experiment. Processes are also used to train
and hire people. For Philosophies, innovation is
everyone’s job and disruption is a part of the innovation
portfolio. It also encourages small-organized project team
as well as takes small risk in pursuit of innovation!
In class we talked about the people process in
IDEO. It can better look at problems with different angles
with diverse teams of people, allowing discovery of
products that are all desirable, feasible and viable. IDEO
creates multidisciplinary teams of different people who
are “T-shaped”: deep in one area of expertise with
shallow expertise in many other areas of knowledge.
Human factors people also determines the desirability of
an idea. These people are very diverse and are usually
have a background in behavioral sciences. They often
gain insight and empathy to the user experience. In the
video we watched, the members spend all day in
wheelchairs just to experience how would it feel like.
Technical factors people are also an important group
because they assess the technical feasibility of an idea.
They have a background in engineering and science.
They usually search and decide on technologies to
provide the optimal solution. The last group of people is
usually the business factors people. These people have
background in business and see what ideas are viable and
profitable. They are usually the ones determine the
optimal way to manufacture, distribute, promote and
Price a product for maximum profit.
The next stop of the 3P framework is processes.
David Kelley talks about IDEO ‘s success to its team
processes. Teams start by questioning, then observing
and networking to gather data about initial questions.
They usually associate or “deep dive” process, then
experimenting with prototypes and the final product.
We then watched a video of IDEO, which takes
us through the entire process. The problem in the video
is shopping carts. They all questions first: what are the
problems? What different needs to users with different
skill levels need? What are its other uses? After
observing, the team would then observe. Shopping carts
actually get stolen a lot. They can get caught in the
wine, take up space in aisles and more than 2,200
hospitalized injuries in a year due to the shopping carts.
By talking to grocery store employee, team learns that
carts are clocked at 35mps through heavy wind. Talking
to the experts in the store allows workers to get the best
information more efficiently than if you were to find
this out by myself. That particular process is
networking. Another would be associating, as called the
“deep dive”. Ideas start to pour out and they need to
experiment. They develop prototypes and the best
aspects of each go into the final product. The team
would
The innovation model has four philosophies:
innovation is everyone’s son. IDEO also seas failure as
impossible to avoid and that notion that everyone should
innovate and challenge the status quo by its risk-taking
saying: “fail soon to succeed sooner”. Another IDEO
philosophy is that the best innovative ideas come from
fun places. Their office space is designed to promote
critical thinking.
13Class Sessions - What make organizations innovative?
Class Sessions - What make organizations innovative?

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Key Takeaway: I learned about IDEO and how it
incorporated the 3P framework in order to be more
innovative. Besides IDEO, Apple would be another
main company that also applied the innovation process
and similar philosophies. I found this class session
very informative because it taught me what an
innovative-modeled company is like. It gave me more
idea in a real life situation.
Apple mainly focuses efficiency and ease.
Major focus on simplicity and wants to offer products
that make life easier to all the customer users. Apple
takes away what we don’t need and leaving behind
only the most basic necessary leftovers. Apple is
always ahead of the game as well. They think of the
future with relentless innovation. The company is not
afraid to self-cannibalize. The iPhone ruined the iPod
market but imagine what Apple would be like if it was
too scared to release iPhone and not getting rid of iPod
because of their preexisting market.
It was very interesting for me to see how Steve
Jobs is actually one of the main sources of innovation.
There was a time period in Apple when Steve Jobs was
not in control and the innovation premium drop down
30%. This is all because the company lacked Job’s
discovery-driven capacity. Apple stopped innovating
and investors lost their confident in Apple. It was a
very bad time for Apple and its innovation was lacking
with the innovative mind of Steve Jobs. Jobs was able
to transform the company because he is different. He
first looked at himself and improved his discovery skill
and understood how innovation worked. He also
sharpened his ability to foster others’ innovation. He
was successful also because he mixes
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technology and liberal arts. Employees are a mix of
people with different backgrounds and diverse
perspectives. For example, Macintosh was so successful
because people working on it were different group of
people, including musicians, poets and artists along with
engineers and historians! Apple reduced the number of
products it offered too! In order to focus on making those
few the absolute best, Apple focuses on doing only a few
things extraordinarily well instead of buying competing
companies and expanding its product line.
I learned about Apple’s philosophy statement as
well, they are usually strived to think differently. When
other countries strive for transparency, Apple s secretive.
I surprise me often that it even shuts its own employees
out sometimes. They are also discouraged from
broadening their scope. They are usually assigned a
narrow length of responsibility where they have to follow
strict orders. Apple has really high standard of excellence
as well. Groundbreaking innovation in retail: Apple store
used the 3P framework and other innovation
characteristics to uphold the gold standard in customer
service. Their mission is not to make a sale but to help
customers grow.
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VIII. October 2nd
– Challenge Course
Summary: This is a special out of class event that I
participated for BSE scholars course. At the beginning of
this activity, we did a group activity that is an icebreaker.
We had to introduce ourselves in the center of the circle
and we would hit each other with noodles if we had
something in common. This activity was really fun to
watch and also participate in. It made me feel good about
the activities we were about to do.
Next, we were asked to split up into groups and
we did different group activities. Our first challenge was
to make a human pipe for the marbles to travel to the bin
that was far away from us. After different technique and
intense teamwork, we finally successfully dropped the
marble into the bin. We also had to figure out a code in
order to get the team through the jump ropes. We did
several other activities as well and they all involve good
teamwork and team thinking. That group activities
exercised my speaking skill and leadership skill as well.
The challenge course provides a program that also
increases my creative confidence!
Key Takeaway: The challenge course serves the
purpose of increasing my creative confidence by
focusing on exercises that involves risk taking,
problem solving and team building collaborations. It
created trust and communication during the course as
well. I learned from this activity the components of
effective teams and effective communication skills as
well. It also enhances my communication skills,
problem-solving skills, and helps me develop a
stronger sense of self-awareness.
Especially climbing the rock wall was a
challenge for me. I was really scared halfway up the
wall since I do not know how to place myself in a
better position to go up. I overcame my fear and
trusted my team. I took a risk while climbing the wall.
This experience helped me tremendously in being
able to take risks without being afraid to fail. It
challenges me and allows me to expend my comfort
zone and recognize my fears that may block personal
achievement. I felt really good when I reached the top
of the wall and overcame my fear.
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Key Takeaway continued: Another takeaway lesson
from this special class even was guided mastery and
afraid to fail in order to succeed. Guided mastery
involves taking small challenges in order to eliminate
a certain fear. I took small challenges to eliminate the
fear of climbing the rock wall. Guided mastery also
helped my reach my self-efficacy, the resilient and
perseverance while climbing the wall because I did
not give up. This also can be relatable to creative
confidence. This challenge course really helped and
changed me.
IX. October 6th
– Demystifying Innovation:
The Pre-Eminence of Internal Firm Culture
Summary: In this class session, we talked about what
causes or hinders innovation. The internal culture of a
firm is the primary driver of innovation. Culture is hard
to control and success breeds complacency, lethargy, or
arrogance. A cultural that usually embraces that status
quo instead of the future abhors risks and projects current
successful products. We also discussed the primary
reason for firm failure is a failure to innovate
unrelentingly. We looked at incumbent firms after.
Incumbent firms usually have more resources,
experiences, expertise, talent and cash for innovation
than lesser rivals or new entrants but fall victim to a self-
destructive culture. The incumbent’s curse is what leaves
the company in a bad shape.
Incumbent firms, especially market leaders, fail
to innovate unrelentingly and we can see examples from
the book we talked about in class. There are economic
factors as well as organizational factors.
Economic factors
· Costs and margins
· Thresholds
· Wait-and-see
· Acquisition
Many incumbent firms also fail to commercialize
radical innovation due to a fear of cannibalizing
successful products. There are many examples.
Crippled by fear of piracy, Sony mp3 player did not
cannibalize its own product, which results in failure.
Apple’s innovative iPod beat Sony’s Walkman.
Some incumbents maintain their dominance
while other fail. There’s an example from chapter
three of the book talking about a company that was
able to maintain its dominance. Due to innovation’s
high failure rate and embracing risk; risk is due to the
uncertainty of success during the stages of developing
and commercializing an innovation. For example,
gambling on growth by Amazon. Jeff Bezos places a
very strong emphasis on customer service and it’s
crucial to provide customer the very best service. He is
obsessive-compulsive focus on end-to-end customer
experience. The initial growth and subsequent profit
were bought with massive risky investments in
marketing, product development and warehousing.
We talked about a lot of theories in class and
one of the theories is the alternate theory. There is the
Wall Street effect and size effect. The most important
factor in driving innovation success are internal
culture of company promotes innovation. The
successful firms often practice willingness to
cannibalize products, embracing risk and focus on
future. The last minutes we talked about Nike and how
successful the company has become and its core value
is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete
in the world.
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Key Takeaway: I learned from this class discussion
that the culture of the company is determined by how
innovative a firm can be. The Wall Street effect is just
the inability of managers to make tough decisions to
increase innovation as it can be described as the
incumbent’s curse. I also learned the three distinct traits
of innovation in a firm: Their willingness to cannibalize
their existing products. Most firms suffer from the
incumbent’s curse, killing their cash cows for various
economic and organizational factors. Ex: When Sony’s
MP3 failed to be cannibalized so Apple’s IPod became
much more successful leaving big companies like Sony
behind. Another
distinct trait of
innovation would
be to not be afraid
to embrace risks.
The last trait is
the ability to
focus on future
because looking
at the future
should help the
company to
develop models to
predict takeoff of
radically new
products. I also
learned about the alternate theories. There is the Wall
Street effect which investors pressure managers of large
firms to cut investments in innovation in order to boost
earning and stock prices. I also find the size effect very
interesting and how large companies do not create
radical innovations that create new markets and destroy
old ones.
I like the author’s argument in the book and I
also find it very convincing because the culture of the
company is the determining factor in how innovative it
is. The Wall Street effect is just the inability of
managers o make the tough decisions to increase
innovation. This is also described by the incumbent’s
curse we talked about in class. The author also argues
that the size effect is not true because small firms
Produce not many radical innovations than large
firms. The determining factor is really whether or not
the firm as a culture that promotes innovation. Larger
firms just tend to have less innovative cultures
because of the curse.
I also applied this information and looked at
several successful companies. I particular looked at
all their core values. For Twitter, its core values are
to grow their business in a way that makes them
proud and passion and personality do matter. They
also believe in communicate fearlessly and defend
and respect other users voice. It’s also important for
them to innovate
through
experimentation
and reach every
person on the
planet.
Besides
Twitter, there is
also Facebook.
The core values
for Facebook are
to move fast,
focus on impact
and be open. It is
also crucial for
Facebook to build good social value. These are just
some important values of Facebook.
By look at Facebook and Twitter, I learned
about the business model in the real world situation.

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X. October 15th – Special U Assessment
Summary: This Special U Assessment is a special class session. This assessment was conducted at the business school
and it is designed to evaluate a series of skills that play important roles in creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial
success. This assessment uses individual performances and group performances to measure your skills level. All the
activities were recorded and evaluated by many experts in this field. When I first arrived at the place, I was given a
packet to read. Inside were emails I have to reply and all my meeting times. I was also given a planner to plan out my
activities throughout the day. The first meeting was making pitch on whether or not should we expand our product
oversea. After the first meeting and after we had all made our pitches, we had about 30 minutes to our next meetings.
During each break, I would use the time to reply to my emails. I would prioritize my emails and reply to the most
important ones. The last meeting is a group meeting, which we had to pitch in all our ideas on hiring who to be the
manager. This is basically an eight-hour workday but crammed into a two-hour assessment. I overall really enjoyed
this experience because the environment made me feel like I was really at work.
Key Takeaways: After receiving the result of my assessment result, I was shocked that I did not do well in certain
area but really well in other areas I did not realize I would do good in. This assessment made me realize what I was
good at and what I need to improve on. I built myself an individual development plan after knowing my own
weaknesses and strengths. A good place to start is to find out what I am really good at and what is important to me.
Overall I think the information presented accurately described my strength at some part but inaccurate in some other
parts as well. My result shows that I’m not strong in organizing and decision-making. I put 100 down for organizing
when actually I got a score of 23. There’s a huge gap of 77. That really surprised me and that was the one thing that
stood out for me because I thought I was good at organizing all along. I realized why my score was so low because I
completely misunderstood what organizing mean in this content. I thought organizing means to organize your
materials in a neat and logical manner, but it actually means establishing a course of action for yourself and others to
accomplish a specific goal. I understand now why I scored so low in that area because I misunderstood the meaning
they were looking for. Another thing that really stood out for me is the initiative. Initiative means actively attempting
to influence events to achieve goals: showing self-starting actions rather than passive acceptance.
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For the more detailed article, please check out Section 9 “ Assessment Center Results”
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in the self-assessment, I rated myself at most a 10 because I thought I was too shy to even voice my opinions and I
would just passively accept what others say. During the assessment, I tried to voice as much as possible and to act
outside of my comfort zone. I scored at 71 because I was able to actively participate and try to break my silence. I was
really proud of myself in some way and definitely feel encouraged to work on it in order to become better.
This feedback is really important to me and I think it’s really valuable as well. This feedback tells me what I
need to work on in order to become a better professional in the career field when I’m older. Even though I scared
really low and unexpected in some field, it acts as a catalyst to push me to become better rather than to lower my self-
esteem. The most important feedbacks to me are the communication skill and some behaviors I need to change or
improve. I need to improve on communication skill because communication is so crucial in the business world.
Communication is effective expression in individual and group situations. Includes both verbal and nonverbal forms of
communication as well as written communication from the in-basket. I feel like communication is how you effectively
get your idea across and without a solid communication skill, there’s no way to get your idea across thoroughly and
completely. The other behaviors I have to work on I received a -1 in some areas including not making eye-contact
while presenting, reading off the paper while presenting and also focus on handwriting. I think these are all little things
I should work on in order to become more successful in a professional field.
Somehow I do actually really wish to change some of my behaviors. I am ready to make the change and I
believe it’s better to start now than later because I will have more time to perfect them. Making changes to these skills
will help me tremendously in my career. It will help me to become more professional and successful in life. These are
all the positive consequences to making certain changes in my behavior and I believe there will only be good
consequences following to my change. I wrote about this particular section in greater details in section 9
[Entrepreneurs On the Lookout]
Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
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Richard Branson (Virgin)
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Elon Musk (Tesla)
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XI. October 20th
– BJ Levin – Executive Producer
At VICE Media
Summary: At this special class session, we had a speaker
named BJ Levin to come into the class and talk to us. He is
the executive producer at VICE media and he used to be a
student here at University of Maryland. He was the Emmy
recipient for outstanding informational series for VICE
season 2 on HBO. Before VICE, he worked for multiple
successful companies such as series producer for MTV,
producer for Project Runway and senior producer for A&E.
He was an investment-banking analyst and worked for Wells
Fargo before getting into the media industry. He graduated
from University of Maryland – Robert H. Smith School of
business.
He first started off with the analysis of a mountain
and how to get up to that mountain. He asked us what do we
need to prepare in order to climb the mountain and what does
the mountain really represent. The mountain he was talking
about actually represents life and we all are trying to climb to
the top of life. He then gave us some really inspirational
insights and I’ve learned a lot from him. He said how we
were already at a disadvantage because we are all attending a
state college. We need to climb up and we need to start now
because all the other fortunate kids have parents that put
them up the mountain but we don’t. It was important for us
to start early, prepare early and network early.
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Key Takeaway: Personally, I really enjoy BJ
Levin’s talk overall. Even he was rude sometimes,
I find all the points he made realistic and concise
to the point. He didn’t sugar coat the real world
like most people did when I talk to them. He made
the real world sound scary because it is scary. I
think his talk prepared me better for the world
than anyone else’s talk. His speech made me
realize how I need to step up right now because
the world is too competitive and scary to get fallen
behind.
I was really interested by some of the
points he made. He talked about passion. He made
the point that if you don’t love what you do, you
won’t succeed. We have to do the things we love
and passion is what drives us to do great things.
He told us a story of how his first job was being
an investment-banking analyst for Wells Fargo.
Because he was not passionate enough about what
he was doing, he quit his job and changed to story
telling. He started out with nothing in his new
career field but that did not stop him from
pursuing what he’s truly passionate about. He
soon became successful in the new field and now
he is the executive produce at VICE media. His
story is very appealing to me and I learned from
him that sometimes, it’s not just about the money
but it’s about doing the thing you are passionate
about. If you are truly passionate about your job,
Class Sessions - BJ Levin Speaker
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21
You won’t be complaining about going to work everyday. I learned that passion is crucial and if you’re doing
something you like, money will most likely follow. I gained the insight that money comes naturally when you are
successful. If you are worried about money first, many opportunities will pass by because you will be so focused on
money. I will be challenged in the real world and people are going to say “no” to me but I just have to have resilient
and prove them wrong. In life, I know that I will eventually fail but I need to learn to accept the failures. It’s okay
to fail and I shouldn’t be afraid of failures. I also absorbed the knowledge of networking from BJ Levin.
Networking is the drive to success and by now I’ve heard the saying “It’s not about what you know, it’s about who
you know” a thousand times. The saying holds true in this world and it emphasizes the importance and necessity of
networking while I am still in school.
In the talk, I also gain insights from the talk. There are a lot of important insights made throughout the
speech. One insight the presentation provided is how I should pave my way while I’m still a freshman in college.
It’s all about what did you do during the four years of college. I am already in a disadvantage because I’m attending
a state college and not Ivy – League University. While applying for a job in the future, the employer will mainly
look at what did I do during the four years of college that set me apart from thousands of others that also went to
college. It’s important do things outside of school as well as in school. I have to pave my way to success by doing
things outside of school such as internship. Internship counts as one of many opportunities I could do while I’m
still an undergraduate student here at University of Maryland. It’s also important for me to find a mentor. Someone
who I can trust and have experience in the field I’m interested in. It’s better to gather information first and be
prepared. Life is a mountain and it’s vital to have the preparation in order to get to the very top.
Overall, I find BJ Levin’s talk really inspiring and realistic. He gave me the real insights of how to become
more successful in life without sugar coating the problems of this world. I learned the most from him than any
other speaker sessions I went to.
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Lorem IpsumFor the more detailed article, please check out Section 7 & 8 “Start Up of You”
For the more detailed article, please check out Section 7 & 8 “Start Up of You”
XII. November 10th
– The Start-Up of You: A
Blueprint for Success in the Knowledge Economy
Summary: In this class we mainly talked about the book
The Start-up of you. We discussed how the cofounder Reif
Hoffman ad Ben Casnocha both explain how the most
innovative entrepreneurs can be applied to our daily
networking and career strategies. It is essential for us to
develop careers that will use our assets; aspirations and the
careers have to have a realistic market outlook. All human
are entrepreneurs and we need to learn to find one thing that
makes me special from everybody else.
We also discussed in class that it is crucial to have
something that separates you from everyone else. Two
fundamentals that we have to take into consideration are
globalization and also technology. There are so many
competitions going on and it is so important for us to build a
good profile. We are not only competing with the people
around ourselves but we are actually competing with people
from all over the world. Besides the competitions, we also
highlighted the two types of professional relationships in the
business world.
Overall in this particular lecture, we mainly just talked
about the book The Start-up of You. This is just a
summary of the class lecture; I touched on this topic
deeper in section 7 and section 8 of the PCR.
Key Takeaway: Overall, I enjoyed the book as well
as the class session. The class session only touched on
several main points outlined in the book. I think this
book would help me in so many different ways
especially it will help me to figure out how to build an
appealing and stronger resume. That is very crucial
because that’s how I will find a job. It will also help
me to be successful in my career field.
I gained deep insights from this book. All
human are entrepreneurs but what makes one
entrepreneur stand out more than the other ones? I
know that it is extremely competitive because you are
not only competing against other people in your
country but you are competing to the people in this
world. People in several countries such as China are
doing cheap labors and they would most likely be the
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23For the more detailed article, please check out Section 7 & 8 “Start Up of You”
For the more detailed article, please check out Section 7 & 8 “Start Up of You”
Ones that took the jobs you want. Many people in developed countries can do the same thing and work as you for a
low cost. I realized how competitive the world could be and that’s why this book inspired me to be more on the edge of
things and look out for opportunities that other people might miss. I learned about the two fundamentals that can make
the world more competitive: globalization and technology. It’s fascinating to me that technology presented some
challenges and some opportunities as well! I also learned that in order to have competitive advantage, it is essential for
me to utilize my personal assets, my aspirations and also the market realities. I should also shifts to Z plan when
something goes wrong. This better prepared me for the future. I practiced this by making a LinkedIn profile. I will
further describe my actions in section 7 and section 8.
There are also two types of professional relationship I learned from this class session: weaker ties and allies. I
never realize that they are both very vital to our daily lives. The weaker ties can be as important as the allies. The
weaker ties are the networks of people that I will meet throughout my life. These are the people I know but not very
well. They might be able to get me a job in the future as well. Allies are the stronger ties and closer friends I will meet
in life. I can depend on them whenever I need help and I can definitely trust them about my issues. I gained insights
that we should meet as many people as we can but we should keep a few allies. After this class session, I began to have
a more open-minded perspective on things and other people’s thoughts. It’s crucial for us to connect with people
outside of your field in order to gain diverse knowledge and interesting information. I talked more about this on section
7 and section 8 as well. In section 7, I described in detail on the actions I’ve taken to improve my networking and my
LinkedIn profile. In section 8, I mainly talked about how the book has impacted my thoughts on career planning and
also applying the ABZ planning framework.
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XIII. November 16th – Necessity of Strangers – Alan
Gregerman
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Summary: In this particularly interesting class session, we talked about our DC trip experience on Sunday. This is a
special class event and the author of Necessity of Strangers: Alan Gregerman came into the class to mainly summarize
our experience. We sat in our group the entire class so we can present to the class all the interesting findings we found
at the special class event trip to DC. Alan Gregerman first separated us into partners. We were supposed to partner up
with someone we didn’t know before and then have a conversation with him or her. Through the quick conversation,
we had to write down ten things that we all have in common.
After write down ten things we all have in common. He then asked us to find things that we have in common
that are common between any person and things we have in common that are unique. We had to present these and I
learned that we all have something in common as a whole group. We then spend the rest of the class period talking
about our trips to DC. Each groups had the chance to present their findings.
Key Takeaway: I thought this activity was actually really fascinating and I like the way Alan Gregerman gets his
message across the entire room full of people. The activity of people getting to know each other and finding ten things
in common are meant to mainly emphasis on our similarities. He showed us that we are so focused on difference and
that should change. We should focus on similarity and we actually have a whole lot of similarities as human. Human
are 99% similar, we have feelings, emotions, similar behaviors and we like to surround ourselves in things we like. He
made the point that the ability to connect with people, especially strangers are vital because similarities and differences
create innovation.
Through the group work activities such as wandering around downtown DC, Alan Gregerman also taught me
and gave me insights on collaborations will also fosters greater innovation. He made me realize that innovation is not
just one-person work but a collaborative effort. Innovation requires multiple thinking, fresh ideas and new possibilities,
which strangers will most likely give to us. Strangers are actually can be really helpful to me by giving me an entirely
new perspective and a brand new way of looking at things. I actually discussed in specific actions I’ve taken to become
more open mindset in regarding to humility, curiosity, purpose and respect in section 5: “Necessity of Strangers” of the
Innovator’s Gazette.
For the more detailed article, please check out Section 5 “Necessity of Strangers”
For the more detailed article, please check out Section 5 “Necessity of Strangers”
24

25
[Assignments]
(Lessons from design thinking group and small assignments)
I. Design Thinking
Summary: After the regular class lectures, we had the
chance to explore and learn from people from the
Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Design
has been used to describe the visual view of objects. But
increasingly, the definition of design has broadened to
include not just the outcome of products but also the
process. The design thinking process consists of five
important steps. It allows others to build on ideas of
others and solves problems with diverse perspectives.
Visual thinking also drives innovation. Innovation
businesses are born from the passion of solving problems.
It is very important to have a growing mindset as well.
First thing that we worked on was empathy.
Empathy deals with intellectual identification with or
vicarious experiencing of feelings, thoughts, or attitudes
of one another. In order for the product to be successful,
it is important to start with the users. Understand the need
and how it’s going to fit in and see the world in others’
eyes. The focus of this whole empathy process will be
extremely human centered. We also learned that it is
important to have a beginner’s mindset that we should
think everything is new to us and we do not judge.
Questioning everything, being truly curious about certain
things, finding patterns and being great listeners are all
characteristics of a beginner’s mindset. In order to be
empathetic to others, it is also necessary to observe and
take notes. This leads us to learn the importance of how
to conduct an interview. We should introduce ourselves
and build rapport. Questions should also evoke stories.
Through good interviews, we will be able to gain
insights.
After the first step of empathy, we came to the
second part of this design process: Define. Define mainly
Focuses on the order to explore new ideas. We learned
how to generate a point of view map in order to help
us define. The point of view map consisted of user,
need and insight. The user stood for the people you are
serving and your target group. The need focused on
the deep emotions. It also focuses on the topic of what
we are solving for and why are we solving this
problem. The third component is insight, what are the
interesting pieces you learned from the user. These
three components will help us develop a good point of
view map. It is also important for us to use verbs and
to make the point of view not the broad nor narrow. It
should always ground itself in empathy as well. I
learned from the special activity that you couldn’t
solve it all focus on one need. You actually had to go
and conduct interviews to find out a diverse group of
people’s opinions.
https://ithinkidesign.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/traditionalsolution.jpg
The third step we learned was Ideate. To
ideate means to focus on one solution of the major
problem and then flare out and explore other
opportunities. This leads to brainstorming and
prototyping. Prototyping and brainstorming can be
count into one category because they both are story
telling, sketches, storyboard and modeling out the
possible design of the solution. Skits and role – play
can also be a part of this group.
The last skill we learned was Test or
Section 3B: Class Assignments 25

Lorem Ipsum
Storytelling. This part is consisted of five parts. In
order to successfully give a presentation of your
solution or product, you can exercise these five major
skills of story telling.
At first, you should start off your presentation
with an intro. The intro should be label and
information mainly about you. Each slide should not
have more than 5 words because you have to talk and
interact with the people you are presenting to. Then
the next slide should be the problem. The statement of
problem and what you are trying to solve. Describe the
problem to the audience could really help you get your
message across. Then we present our solution to the
problem and then we also present urgency. The
urgency usually talks about why we have to support
the solution and why we have to do it quick. There
should be a sense of urgency in the presenter’s tone as
well. Lastly you should present the action. By
concluding the presentation, you need to present ideas
of how to bring the solution to life. These are the five
main things to keep in track while presenting your
solution. The presentation should be concise and quick
to the point.
Key Takeaway: After learning about the design
thinking process, we had the chance to actually apply
the process to activities we do. The activity really
helped me through the process and gave me a better
understanding of it. It gave me a better understanding
because I actually had the chance to actually apply and
practice it on a real-world situation.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/rkMcKvDuRHM/UMjB0yfRMgI/AAAAAAAAACw/yHCO37Crypc/s160
0/stressedoutstudents+(1).jpg
In this real life situation, we were giving a
problem to tackle. We were presented the question of
how to help our fellow UMD students more effectively
manage stress. This is the problem we have to solve
and we broken up into little groups to work as a team
and to bounce ideas off each other.
The first step is empathy. We first had to
conduct interviews to three other people to find out
about their stress level and in order to gain more
insights about reason of stress. First we did interview
planning, which we had to generate a list of interview
questions. It was important for the questions to be
open-ended! It was also important for the questions to
generate questions from the interviewees. We came up
with several questions to ask, for example: we asked
when do they feel the most stress, what do the students
usually do when they feel stressed, do they
procrastinate? We then had to conduct real interview
with students in U of Maryland. After several
interviews, we had to summarize the results by rating
the stress level, interesting story that they told and
something that struck us about them and how they
manage stress. It was crucial for us to share our
interviews because then we can draw insights from
each other and develop new ideas off of each other as
well. After the sharing of interview information, we
then made observations. We picked out the four most
striking observations from all the students we
interviewed: most guys usually work out to relieve
stress while most girls shop to relieve stress, students
sleep to deal with stressful situations and not
everyone’s stress is about school.
After conducting the interviews, we then had
to create the why ladders and capture the most
fascinating point.
Class Assignments – Group work: Design Thinking
Class Assignments – Group Work: Design Thinking
26

27
After conducting the Why Ladders, we had to pick one ladder to move forward with in order to solve our
problem. We had to take a stand on what problem we want to solve so we had to pick our point of view. For this
design process of relieving stress, we decided as a team to focus on a student called Rushan. We learned from him
that stress could come from non-academic as well as academic stress. We mostly wanted to focus our effort on
creating ways to make extracurricular not as stressful and to provide a place for students to relax and relieve stress
overall.
We came to our second to last step: prototyping.
Prototyping and brainstorming can be count into one category
because they both are story telling, sketches, storyboard and
modeling out the possible design of the solution. We generated
a lot of possible solutions by putting them on sticky notes and
lay them out on the wall. This was very effectively done
because we can develop ideas from each other. We can see the
different ideas and then we can make connections with them.
This was exactly what we did to come up with the idea – we
build our solution by making connections with completely
different ideas. We realized that most students in general love
to work out to relieve stress; some might need advice and counseling to relieve stress, others also sleep to help cope
with stress as well and who doesn’t love to play with puppies to relieve stress? We combined all these different
ideas to create one solution that can accommodate all the different situations. At last, we came up with “Loh Stress
Zone”: a place where every student should go to relieve stress.
http://www.diabetesmine.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/04/Summit-sticky-notes.jpg
Introducing the LOH SRESS ZONE
What does it include?!
* Nap Zone
*Café
*Puppy Zone
*Workout Zone/Spa Zone
*Counseling Center
Go relieve your stress today at the brand new LOH STRESS ZONE! Located @ STAMP
Hours: M-F 8am – 1 am SAT-SUN 10am – 11pm
24 hour hotline: (xxx)xxx-xxxx so call us maybe J
FREE hugs by all the employees! J FREE ice
cream and coffee every Wednesdays!!
Class Assignments – Group Work: Design Thinking 27

Lorem Ipsum
After coming up with the solution to our
problem, we had come to the very last step of this
design thinking. Now we had to test our idea and
present it to others. We decided to present the ideas
to all our peers and interviewees. They all seem to
love this LOH STRESS ZONE. They were all very
excited about the nap zone and puppy zone. The
gym zone and spa will definitely help them relax.
They were happy about the counseling center and
suggested that we should have a tutoring place too
for all the people stressed out about schoolwork
that they don’t understand. We took that into
consideration and decided to add a “Get Help
Zone”. Overall the responses to the solution were
overall positive and everyone seems to very enjoy
this idea.
This real-life situation application really
helped me understand how to apply design thinking.
It also really gave me a deeper understanding of the
process and what is it like to be innovative with your
product.
This particular special class session about
design thinking really pushed me into being
creatively confident. It made me realize how easy and
effective design process and thinking could be when
it comes to tackling a specific problem. I am really
glad to have people from the Academy for Innovation
and Entrepreneurship come into our class to help us
with this special skillset and apply the skillset to a
real life problem. I really think it will help me in the
future and make me a more “creative” minded
individual.
http://dschool.stanford.edu/fellowships/files/2013/10/guido-octagons-copy.jpg
28

29
II. Small Assignments
The Steve Jobs Assignments
Based on my reading of Walter Issacson’s
biography of Steve Jobs, I’ve identified specific
examples where Jobs demonstrated the five essential
skills of an innovator: experimenting, observing,
questioning, associating and networking. These five
innovator skills eventually led Jobs to the ultimate
success with his groundbreaking innovative company.
The first skill that Jobs have shown early on
is Experimenting. Isaacson described in his biography
about how jobs and Wozniak made a pocket device,
which can make the TV screen fuzzy, and brought it
with them while watching TV with a group of people
(26). One specific prank machine they experimented
was The Blue Box, which it allows them to make free
wireless calls (27). Through experimenting with these
early innovative products of Jobs and Wozniak, they
gained knowledge and ideas about the future Apple
Company: “The ultimate combination of pranks and
electronics and the escapade that helped to create
Apple” (27). Besides the prank machines, Steve also
experimented with building a single-player pong
game. Jobs was excited about this project and worked
on it with Wozniak for only four days when they
successfully built the single-player pong game with
the fewest chips as possible (53). Last example of his
early experimenting would be with Apple II’s new
design. Jobs want his computer to be simple and a
work of art. He experimented with different colors
and materials for Apple II’s design: “He was struck
by the Cuisinart food processors and decided that he
wanted a sleep case made of light molded plastic”
(73). Jobs demonstrated this essential skill of
experimenting in order to become innovative in his
company.
The second skill that Jobs would be observing
while practicing is through observation, Jobs generated
new ideas for his company. When Jobs first met Wozniak,
he observed Wozniak’s new keyboard invention for the
computer; he was fascinated by the function of displayed
image on the computer screen (61). He did pay attention
to how things work and how Wozniak used the different
components to make up the computer. Bedside studying
and observing from Wozniak, Jobs also learned from
Xerox Alto by observing how they made components and
things for computers. His observation helped him when he
used the information he gathered and applied it on Apple:
“Jobs and his engineers significantly improved the
graphical face idea they saw at Xerox, and then were able
to implement them in ways that Xerox never could
accomplish” (98). Soon after his observation at Xerox,
Jobs soon attended the annual international Design
Conference in Aspen. Jobs observed the style and design
at the conference. They conference triggered Jobs on
designing Apple: “Job publicly discussed his embrace of
Bauhaus style” (126) and he demanded his computer to be
clean and simple.
The third skill Jobs constantly practice in this
biography is constantly questioning. Asking questions for
Jobs was a creative catalyst for discovering potential new
insights. Process of asking question helped Jobs to unlock
multiple ideas. When Jobs saw Wozniak’s work: “he
peppered Wozniak with questions: could the computer
ever be networked? Was it possible to ass a sick for
storing memory?” (61). Besides asking Wozniak
questions, Jobs also questioned Xerox PARC when they
showed him their technique with technology and such
products design (97). Lastly, Jobs showed how
questioning can unlock multiple new ideas by always
asking if there were more room for improvement on
Apple I and Apple II (129).
Class Assignments – Small Assignments: Steve Jobs
29

Lorem Ipsum
The fourth skill is associating, the ability to
make surprising connections across areas of
knowledge. He connected wildly different ideas,
objects, services, technologies and disciplines to dish
up new and unusual innovations. He was also able to
use his cognitive skills. Jobs used to sell prank
machines with Wozniak and he made the connection
of making money with the Blue Box: “Every time I’d
design something great, Steve would find a way to
make money for us” (62). He made association with
visiting Xerox PARC as well because he collected
diverse knowledge. He simply recombined the ideas
he got from Xerox, which allowed Jobs to offer
something new to the market (98). Lastly, Jobs used
his associating skills when he paid detailed to design
on Apple II. He applied the skill of associating when
he grasped the detailed information he learned from
Design Conference back in Aspen and fitted into the
big picture of Apple. This is exactly how to apply the
associating skill. Associating skill is something you
get definitely develops and get good at by practicing.
The associating muscle can be developed through
active practice of questioning, observing, networking
and experimenting. Jobs completely demonstrated his
associating skills and you can see the skill through all
his Apple products.
The last set of skill is networking. Networking
can be extremely important to Jobs because different
perspectives from different diverse background people
can inspire and generate new ideas. Jobs’ first
networking would have to be Steve Wozniak. Wozniak
and Jobs met at the garage and their similarity made
them a great team partner together and they
experimented many things today. It was through Steve
Wozniak that Jobs was able to start the Apple Company
(25). After Wozniak, Jobs also networked with
Bushnell. Bushnell eventually pushed Jobs into making
single-player pong game. Bushnell trained Jobs: “There
is something indefinable in an entrepreneur, and I saw
that in Steve” (55). Next, Jobs also met Markkula.
Networking with people from different background and
different fields helped Jobs gain different perspectives.
Markkula helped jobs gain a different perspective by
showing him the business world and that led to how
successful Jobs is with the Apple Company: “Markkula
was as much a father-son relationship as Steve ever had,
he began teaching Jobs about marketing and sales”(78).
Networking helped Jobs to gain different skills and new
perspectives he never know before.
30

31Class Assignments – Small Assignments: Milton Hershey Trip Reflection Questions
Class Assignments – Small Assignments: Milton Hershey Trip Reflection Questions
Milton Hershey Assignment
Milton Hershey fully possesses the skills of an innovator. He first started experimenting with
his milk chocolate with fresh milk. He needs to produce fine milk for the chocolate because it was
considered a luxury product. Hershey determined to develop a formula for milk chocolate and
through trial and error; he finally produced his first chocolate bar in 1900. Another skill would be
association, by connecting wildly different ideas and disciplines to dish up new and unusual
innovations. Hershey has the ability make surprising connections across areas of knowledge. He
combined his knowledge of milk to make milk chocolate. Milton Hershey was a disruptive
innovator and he made milk chocolate, a luxury product at his point, affordable for most middle-
class citizens. Hershey’s milk chocolate was so popular that it did not even have to advertise!
As an entrepreneur, Milton Hershey encountered several risks and accepted the failures in order
to succeed. When Hershey was only 19, he started his own candy business. Unfortunately, the
business failed after six years. Hershey also moved to New York City to work for another candy
company but the increase in sugar prices forced Hershey to shut down the business once again.
Milton Hershey went bankrupted twice before finally succeeded in making chocolate. He did not
just stop when he had his success in making chocolate; it took him years of trial and error to perfect
the chocolate as well.
Milton Hershey had an opportunity to study how to make chocolate as it was practiced in
Europe. He saw the chocolate making assembly line and was amazed by the process. Hershey took
the risks and borrowed money to buy machines to make chocolate. He started making chocolate and
chocolate coating for caramels. Milk chocolate was considered a luxury product but Hershey made
it affordable for people to buy. Hershey also purchased the Derry Church which it produced milk
for Hershey’s milk chocolate. Hershey’s milk chocolate became extremely popular and Milton
Hershey finally succeeded after years of failure.
Just like any other entrepreneurs, Milton Hershey was able to succeed after multiple failures. He
was willing to take risks even if it means failing over and over again. Hershey took his failure as a
lesson and learned how to be better. Prior to Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, he went bankrupted twice
and had three unsuccessful candy stores. Hershey didn’t give up but instead he used his candy-
making experience to make unique chocolate caramel recipe. He’s failures ultimately led him to
success at the end.
31

Lorem Ipsum
http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/thoughts/Creative_Confidence_book10603_626px.jpg
[Creative Confidence]
(Specific detailed actions taken to improve my creative confidence)
Every one in this world is born to be creative. We are exteremely creative and curious when we were just little
kids playing in the sandbox. We are exceedingly curious about how things around us work and why they are the way
they are. We do crazy experiments and ask outlandish, bizzar questions. But somewhere between being a self-awared
adult in a busy world and an intrigued child playing on the playground, we become more and more vulnerable to other
people’s judgement. We stop asking absurd questions that could possibly lead us to innovative ideas and we soon
become more analytical. We are also afraid of making mistakes because we are constantly afriad of failure and
judgements coming from others. In the book Creative Confidence written by Tom Kelley and David Kelley, it talks
about how to get our childhood curiousity and creativity back. Creative Confidence mainly draws around the idea of
unleashing and developing our potential creativity. It is important to unlock our individual creative side and reveal our
potential will create an overall positive impact on the world and it can be a collective effort. After reading this book,
I’ve taken several actions and planned out how to improve my creative confidence.
There are multiple good points made in this book about to to become more creative confidence. Starting from
the very first chapter, Kelley makes the point that many many innovation or good ideas may go through mutiply
iterations before the process is completely done. We are presented with every day products that don’t sell or work well
and little problems that often make our lives inconvienient. At every point of hazard, there hides an opportuity to
Section 4: Creative Confidence
Creative Confidence
32

33
People around us. The change on the world does not have
to be an individual effort and it could be a collaborative
effort as well. Teamwork comes in very significant and
crucial because it allows us to achieve something greater
together. I learned that working alone never really
produces great insights only just by you. But when you
are in a group, people with different diverse ideas bounce
off of each other’s ideas and people built on each other’s
insights that you might never get just by working alone.
Collaboration could also foster a creative environment
and culture as well. Experiment with experiences could
also be crucial in mastering creative confidence as well as
surrounding myself with a supportive network.
The challenge rope course can actually count as
part of creative confidence. The challenge course served
the purpose of increasing my creative confidence by
focusing on exercises that involves risk taking, problem
solving and team building collaborations. It created trust
and communication during the course as well. This
activity enhanced my communication skills, problem-
solving skills, and helped me develop a stronger sense
of self-awareness. Especially climbing the rock wall
was a challenge for me. I was really scared halfway up
the wall since I do not know how to place myself in a
better position to go up. I overcame my fear and trusted
my team. I took a risk while climbing the wall. This
experience helped me tremendously in being able to
take risks without being afraid to fail. It challenges me
and allows me to expend my comfort zone and
recognize my fears that may block personal
achievement. I felt really good when I reached the top
of the wall and overcame my fear. This was one of the
actions I’ve taken to improve my creative confidence.
Lastly, the book commented how people are
strongly creative but we are being suppressed by other
people’s opinions and the social norm. It is also crucial
to know that creative confidence cannot be mastered
overnight. We need to take actions and practices, one
step at a time in order to reach our goal of creative
confidence. This process can be known as self-efficacy
and guided mastery. I also did some of the activities
mentioned in chapter 7.
Creativity Challenge #1
Push Yourself To Think Divergently and Creatively
Creative Confidence
Creative Confidence 33

Lorem Ipsum
Making the mind map really helped me improve my divergent and unconventional thinking. Thinking this way
helps me to develop and generate more good ideas. Mind mapping can be a powerful tool because it is a way to
explore and gain a deeper insight of certain solution. I never thought that I would use mind map because I would
usually just write the solutions down. I realized that by using mind map, I get to explore deeper into the solutions and
start associating one solution with another. I came up with some ideas that I would never come up with if I weren’t
using mind map. It was also nice to write everything down on the paper because my mind can only hold a few ideas.
By writing all the ideas I have down on the piece of paper not only helped me with listing the ideas out but it also
helped me associating with different ideas in order to come up with something better in the end.
I started out the mind map with the question in the middle. In this particular case, I chose the topic being
“throwing a surprise party for a best friend”. The first branch I wrote down are all the general terms: theme of the
party, who to invite and what should I do to make this party amazing for the friend. The next branch is more specific
than the first branch because that is when I start to dig deeper into the general solutions. For example, I start digging
into the food category. I listed a couple style of food that I think they would like and then I got creative around the
third branch of ideas. The third branch in the food category, I started thinking maybe we can have a “taco station” and
we can all make tacos at the party. The farthest branch out away from the central question is usually the one with the
most insights. The fascinating thing about mind map is that all the ideas I came up with somehow relate to one another.
All the ideas create a hub and I used one idea to associate with another to come up with something better in the end.
Using mind map actually taught me a lot of being creative. It taught me to look deeper into things and the best ideas
come from divergent and unconventional thinking. The best ideas do not just come out but they are actually built off of
other ideas.
Creativity Challenge #2
Jump – Start an Ideation Session
In the second creativity challenge besides the mind mapping
activity, I improved my creativity confidence by filling out the thirty
circles on the activity sheet. This activity is called jump-start an
ideation session. This exercise helps me especially with my creativity
skill. It gets my creative muscle warmed up just by filling in the
circles. This activity really pushed me to think and be creative with
only thirty plain white circles. I had to turn these circles into objects
and it got harder around the fourth row. I was running out of things for
the circles but suddenly I had a spark in my head and I actually
thought that two circles could actually connect together to form a pair
of glasses. These sudden sparks of idea are what most innovators drive
on and it was interesting to feel the same sparks going off in my head.
I looked back at all the objects I made from plain circles and
realized that I actually started to become more and more creative as
the activity goes on. At first, I just stuck with the simple and obvious
things: a smiley face, pizza, baseball, basketball, soccer and the stop
signs. I did some creative thinking but these objects are simple. As the
activity goes on, I start to get more and more creative with my
Creative Confidence
Creative Confidence
34

35
circles. I started thinking “outside of the box” and then I was able to be more creative with my circles. For examples, I
started connecting the two circles and therefore I actually made a pair of glasses. After making the glasses, I wasn’t
afraid to take more risks. I started drawing outside of the circle. I made a turtle in a bird’s eye view with its head and
other body parts poking out from the circle. I also made a gear with teeth coming out of the circle by thinking literally
“outside of the box” or perhaps “outside of the circle”.
From this second exercise, I learned to look at things in a different way. Creativity is essential for innovation
or just a necessary skill. Even the plain circles can be turn into multiple different cool things with just creativity. This
exercise also improved not only my creativity but also my association skill and ideation. Ideation is the formation of
ideas or just concepts. When generating ideas, I was left to balance fluency and flexibility. Fluency means the speed
and quantity of ideas. In this case, the fluency can be an important factor here because I have to draw the thirty circles
into as many recognizable objects as I can. Besides fluency, flexibility means ideas that are truly different and distinct.
This can also apply to this activity because all the objects I came up with for the thirty circles are all different and
unique. This activity improved my creativity and also strengthened my ideation skill as well.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8051/8420899626_58b60b28d3_z.jpg
Creative Confidence
Creative Confidence
35

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