Here’s my take on how nurturing individual curiosity can help instill a culture of innovation to keep your organization ahead of the curve.
Finding Your Next Technological Innovation
Great ideas come from individuals. But when generating ideas, it’s common to feel uncertain about how to start. Remember, you don’t need to figure everything out before you begin. One effective strategy is to write down five things that interest you. By exploring these interests, you can start to connect the dots and gain clarity on your next direction. The essential component of this process is your "why." Why pursue this idea? In IT, ask whether your latest innovation idea is designed to enhance customer experience or improve key performance indicators like time to detect (TTD), time to remediate (TTR), and time to value (TTV). Brainstorming can significantly enrich this creative process, bringing together diverse perspectives and helping uncover blind spots. Techniques like the thinking hats method can be particularly beneficial in generating different viewpoints and fostering collaboration.
Find Your “Why”
Ultimately, for anything to be aligned and productive, we must continuously focus on our "why." Define what you are trying to achieve and for whom you are doing it. Embrace that your initial thoughts might not make complete sense; clarity often emerges through reflection and writing. Let your "why" serve as your compass, guiding you toward your objectives and helping you solve problems creatively.
They say 99% of the effort is useless, but they don’t say that it sometimes takes that 99% to reach the 1% that makes a difference. So, embrace the chaos, let go of perfection—it’s a myth anyway—and focus on progress. Progress looks different at every stage, and that’s okay.
Don’t Just Own Your Story, Sell It!
As a collective race of approximately 8 billion people, there is a good chance that some of our ideas are recycled. But regardless of how simple your idea could be, there is always a way that it can add value to your everyday work.
Take learning Kotlin, for example. Maybe you discovered how coroutines make tracing more efficient. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking to be worth sharing. Your perspective matters—how you solved a problem, what you found useful, and the unique way you tell the story. Say it like it matters because it does. How do you expect your customers to buy your products if you can't tell a story and sell your idea to your peers?
Standing Out in the Age of AI
While artificial intelligence (AI) transforms how we work and think, it can’t replicate the spontaneous brilliance that comes from lived experiences and cultural nuances. Think of Pele’s iconic bicycle kick. That move wasn’t just about athletic prowess—it was a blend of timing, intuition, and raw creativity that you can’t program into a machine.
In a world increasingly dominated by automation, your unique perspective and ideas become even more valuable. Rather than feeling boxed in by the possibilities of AI, view it as a tool that can handle the repetitive and mundane while you focus on what only you can bring to the table. I wouldn’t underestimate the role of AI. There are things humans can miss, and AI can inspire, support, and be a great teammate by bringing blind spots to light.
Embrace the Magic of Collaboration
Believe in the power of the people around you. Diversity is a powerful thing, and bringing in diverse perspectives can help you realize an idea's true potential. It doesn’t matter if you are a subject matter expert or an intern who joined yesterday; be open to unusual outlooks and intentional about your collaboration. When you learn to channel the power of collective thinking, you align more deeply with your WHY.
Collaboration is also essential from a value point of view. Often, there are things we do not know. For example, agentic workflows are widely used in customer success. Still, the actual way to bridge the AI agency gap is by building LLMs that holistically capture the sentiment of every aspect of the customer’s journey through every step of the process across business functions, hierarchy, and roles.
Bonus tip: Consider yourself lucky if someone challenges your perspectives. Feedback is a gift. After all, only a true friend will tell you if you don’t look your best.
Allow Your Ideas to Evolve
Sharing your ideas and embracing diverse perspectives fosters continuous growth, helping you realize that your idea is merely a stepping stone rather than a destination. For an idea to remain relevant, it must keep evolving, which is why continuous learning has always been the oldest trick in the book.
For example, quantum machine learning is in its early stages but has immense potential. Adaptability and a flexible mindset will help you align this emerging technology with your goals and applications. While we're still building proof of concepts, success hinges on our ability to adapt. The real power of innovation isn’t just in the idea; it’s in how we evolve with it.
Every technology and solution once started as a scribble on someone’s whiteboard. It thrived because someone pursued their curiosity. In many cases, one small idea was enough to spark something bigger.
To understand your strengths, start by identifying what keeps you up at night, dedicate time to learning daily, and let curiosity guide you toward growth.
