Archive for the ‘Management’ Category

My Innovation Aphorisms

Tuesday, August 15th, 2017

My view of innovation organization boils down to some aphorisms.

The first is biblical: “The Truth Shall Set You Free.” To innovate we SEEK truth, by challenging data, hypotheses, and conventional thinking. When we believe we KNOW the truth, we stop seeking and innovation stagnates.

The second is my own coinage: “Intuition without Experience and Analysis is Superstition.” Intuition lets us make creative leaps and to time travel, i.e. get to the answer faster. But we need experience and the ability to use mathematics, physics, and chemistry to fundamentally understand the limits and opportunities of the intuitive leap. I have seen too many projects founder on wishful thinking and superstition by denying experience and foregoing analysis.

The third comes from my mentor, the late Dr. Dah Yu Cheng: “Research means to look again.” Experience can come from others’ failures, not just our own. That’s why we study the literature and the competition.