I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the last few weeks thinking through the main messages for my Goldman lecture today.

The innovation topic has so many strands, there are so many important discussions to engage in. After all, this is the subject of change and we all know that change is difficult, tough to embrace, easy to challenge. Aa Machiavelli said..

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

Nevertheless, it has to happen ! For wealth creation or social good…. In the end, I’ve decided to share one or two thoughts on those people who really make a difference,

those change agents without whom innovation processes would be pointless.

What are their characteristics? Well, overall, they are all called KEN!

Great innovators have that curiosity that takes them to the boundary, takes them

beyond their comfort zone and into knowledge areas that might, just might, be helpful in their work.

Great innovators always have some depth of expertise. They understand their primary subject well and keep their expertise up-to-date. It is easy to be lazy in the context of expertise.

Today’s world is incredibly fast-moving but it is perfectly designed for problem-solving networking or creative networking. It is my experience that many highly creative people can be reticent about sharing their capability. I like to think that there is a concept within innovation practice of “Giving Networks” in which people are prepared to share knowledge & expertise without an obvious short-term gain. Maybe I’m an idealist but I do know that being precious about knowledge )especially in the context of IP) can significantly reduce innovative momentum, depress inventors and reduce the likelihood of business success.

Right, that’s it. Let’s all change our name to KEN. We’ll all be more innovative.