As we interviewed Serial Innovators (SIs), the most frequently recurring themes expressed to depict the “know how” of innovation were “systems thinking” and “connecting the dots.” The SIs used these concepts again and again to describe the emergence of insight that they experienced in the act of innovation.In many respects it is not surprising that they spoke of innovation in this way. As illustrated in Figure 1 on the next page, they typically carry around with them countless “dots” – with these dots defined as pieces information about a vast array of topics, ranging from technical insights, to customer insights, to views regarding the marketplace, to an understanding of critical financial measures, to knowledge of manufacturing processes. As such, their “connecting the dots” across this mass of information and arriving at an innovative, breakthrough insight is truly a challenge. If it were easy, someone would have already done it.
