This document discusses five skills that can be trained to improve innovation: associating, questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking. Associating involves connecting ideas from different fields. Questioning means asking questions to understand problems in new ways. Observing is carefully watching the world to gain new insights. Experimenting is constantly learning through new experiences. Networking involves meeting people with different perspectives to expand knowledge. The document provides tips for practicing each skill, and asserts that innovators actively seek to change existing approaches through smart risks.

1. INNOVATION
can be trained
BY SLIDES THAT ROCK

2. “ One’s ability to generate innovative
ideas is not merely a function of the
mind, but also a function of behaviors.
If we can change our behaviors, we can
”
improve our creative impact.
- Clayton Christensen

3. INNOVATION

4. 5 discovery
SKILLS

5. ASSOCIATING
QUESTIONING
OBSERVING
EXPERIMENTING
NETWORKING

6. ASSOCIATING

7. ASSOCIATING
Connecting seemingly
unrelated questions,
problems, or ideas from
different fields.

8. “ ”
Creativity is connecting things.
- Steve Jobs, Apple

9. TIP #1
Imagine how someone from a
different company would look
at your challenge from an
entirely new perspective.
What is different?

10. How would Lady Gaga
design a chocolate
dessert?

11. QUESTIONING

12. QUESTIONING
Asking questions to
understand how things really
are today, why they are that
way, and how they might be
changed or disrupted.

13. “ The important and difficult job is
never to find the right answers, it is to
”
find the right question.
- Peter Drucker

14. TIP #2 ?
Brainstorm questions about the
problem. Create a list of 50
questions and pick the best ones
to explore further.

15. What
Why
When
Who
Where
How

16. OBSERVING

17. OBSERVING
Carefully watching the
world to help gain insights
into and ideas for new ways
of doing things.

18. “
Observing is the big game
changer in our company.
”
- Scott Cook, Intuit

19. TIP #3
Pick a company you admire to
observe and follow. Find out
everything you can about what the
company does and how it does it.
What ideas can be transferred?

21. EXPERIMENTING

22. EXPERIMENTING
Constantly visiting new
places, trying new things,
seeking new information,
and experimenting to
learn new things.

23. “ I haven’t failed... I’ve just found
10,000 ways that do not work.
”
- Thomas Edison

24. TIP #4
Explore the world by engaging in
new activities. Join new social or
professional activities beyond
your normal sphere.

26. NETWORKING

27. NETWORKING
Going out of the way to
meet people with wildly
different backgrounds and
perspectives to extend your
own knowledge.

28. “ People who think outside the box
often talk to people who play in a
”
different box to get new ideas.
- Clayton Christensen

29. TIP #5
Schedule breakfast, lunch
or dinner with someone
new every week.

30. Jamie
Oliver! Lady Gaga!

31. INNOVATION

32. 5 discovery
SKILLS

33. ASSOCIATING
QUESTIONING
OBSERVING
EXPERIMENTING
NETWORKING

34. “Innovators actively desire to change
the status quo, and they regularly take
”
smart risks to make it happen.
- Clayton Christensen

35. INNOVATION
can be trained
BY SLIDES THAT ROCK

36. INSPIRED BY
Content: “The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of
Disruptive Innovators” by Clayton Christensen et al.
Theme and Font: The London Underground and the famous
signs using Johnston Sans typeface designed by Edward
Johnston. The font used is the later version ‘ITC Johnston’.
Illustrations: “La Linea” created by Italian Cartoonist
Osvaldo Cavandoli as well as the Noun Project (Symbols).
Colors: The color palette is based on the front page of
Monocle’s issue 33 (May 2010).
BY SLIDES THAT ROCK

37. slides
rock
that
www.slidesthatrock.com