Kaplan in New BizWeek Column: The Innovator's Vulnerability

Posted by Chris Flanagan on December 16, 2009

In his latest BusinessWeek column, BIF's Chief Catalyst Saul Kaplan asserts that the most distinguishing characteristic of an innovator is their vulnerability:

"If you hang around innovators long enough, it’s pretty clear they all have a deep-seated confidence in both their ideas and their ability to turn ideas into reality. The best innovators are able to do this on a regular basis, delivering value along the way. To some, they may seem invincible, impervious to the naysayers, roadblocks, and intransigent systems in their way. But I believe that this confidence, however valuable, is not what distinguishes a great innovator. Instead, innovation requires a level of vulnerability with which most are uncomfortable.

Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, says the hallmark of an innovator is having a confident point of view combined with the self-awareness that something is always missing. I agree. Neurosis-laced vulnerability is what enables innovators to seek critical input and make the random connections needed to fuel innovation. There is always a better way and innovators open themselves up in order to search for missing puzzle pieces."

Continue reading Saul's Business Week Column