"I" Shaped Innovators at Microsoft
Bill Buxton, the Principal Scientist at Microsoft Research opines that firms serious about innovation should look for I- Shaped People. Those who have their feet firmly planted in the practical world and can stretch their heads to the clouds—and simultaneously span all of the space in between. At Microsoft, the three pillars for generating new ideas and new products are- Business, Expertise and Technology. Some tips are: Hire people who do not require predictability and stability in order to be effective; Hire people with strong interpersonal skills; who have a distinctive and deep competency; and most importantly neve have a jack-of-all-trades.

The Toyota A3 Report
The A3 Report at Toyota is a novel model to solve problems that generate knowledge and helps people learn how to learn. The term "A3" derives from the paper size used for the report. This two page report does: (1) establish the business context and importance of a specific problem or issue; (2) describe the current conditions of the problem; (3) identify the desired outcome. Though the A3 process can be used effectively both to solve problems and to plan initiatives, its greatest payoff may be how it fosters learning. It presents ideal opportunities for mentoring. Also it becomes a basis for collaboration.

IdeasProject at Nokia
IdeasProject brings together several important big thinkers from across the world to contemplate the big ideas that matter most to the future of communications, joining them up through video clips, links, articles, podcasts and dynamic maps. One can share an idea and if it gets selected Nokia gifts them with an N95 as well features the ideator on the site. One such idea is around how social media enhances the emotional dimension of news. This is a very powerful way for Nokia to make us shift from being consumers to participants. That’s the wisdom of crowd.

Value Innovation Program (VIP) Center at Samsung
The VIP Centres at Samsung Electronics brings together engineers, designers, product planners, and marketers early in a product's development, to brainstorm ideas for making gadgets more intuitive. The program was started in 1998 in ensuring that maximum value-add happens early in the product creation lifecycle. To ensure creative juices following all time, the center has 20 project rooms, 38 bedrooms for those who must spend the night, a kitchen, ping-pong and pool tables, and a gym—complete with hot tubs. That’s the secret of this design driven Chaebol.

Hartmut Esslinger
Named as an acronym for Federal Republic of Germany, Frog Design is one of the most respected design firms in the world. Hartmut Esslinger is the founder of this design studio and has his own unique space in the world of design and innovation. He worked closely with Steve Jobs during the creation of Mac and with other industry majors such as Disney, Louis Vuitton and SAP. He believes that creative strategy offers clear benefits over the traditional supply-chain dominated approach to business. Further, true teamwork, respect, and loyalty are the keys to building a culture of creativity and strong partnerships.

Tom Kelley
Design Thinking and Organizational Transformation being his areas of interest Tom Kelley is one of the most regarded and well recognized faces of IDEO. Through his two bestselling books- Art of Innovation (2001) and Ten Faces of Innovation (2005) he evangelized design and creativity practices of IDEO to rest of the world. He is again a great proponent of Mind Mapping (something I observed common amongst all of the evangelists). Tom has been the driving force around the common belief at IDEO that everyone can contribute creatively to a project, that innovation can be made a cultural way of life in an organization.

Anil Gupta
Being the coordinator of SRISTI and the Honey Bee Network, and Executive Vice Chair of National Innovation Foundation, Padma Shri Dr. Anil Gupta is one of the key drivers of Grassroots Level Innovation at India. The Honey Bee Network aims at connecting one innovator with another through feedback, communication and networking in the local language. His organization aims at ensuring evolution and diffusion of green grassroots innovation in a selective, time-bound and mission oriented basis so as to meet the socio-economic and environmental needs of our society. Other famed evangelists associated with Dr. Gupta are Dr R A Mashelkar and Dr A PJ Abdul Kalam.

Guy Kawasaki
One of my personal favorites, Guy found this seed-stage and early-stage venture capital funding company- Garage Technology Ventures. In a recent interview with the Knowledge@ Wharton, Guy depicted the ten commandments of an Entrepreneurial Evangelist. These are: make meaning, not money; make a mantra not a mission statement; jump curves; in product design- roll the DICEE (Deep Intelligence Complete Elegance Emotive); don’t worry, be crappy; polarize people; let 100 flowers blossom; churn, baby, churn; niche yourself; and follow the 10-20-30 rule (10 PowerPoint slides, a limit of 20 minutes for the pitch, and using a 30-point font size in the presentation).

It all started with the founders - Walt and Roy Disney who back in 1928 broke the tradition and introduced the first animated short feature with synchronized sound- Steamboat Willie. Since then this animation studio has captured the imaginations of many. The Mantra of Creativity at Disney is- Encourage managers and Cast Members (Disney employees) to get out of the box, toss it aside, and start with pure, fresh, undiluted ideas. The creative process is composed of three steps - Be consistent in how ideas are evaluated; Create consolidated checkpoints; and Define the deliverables. To the Creative Core are the people including - Storytellers, Animators, and Imagineers. Also the fundamental belief of the founders that- Good ideas come from everywhere and everyone; and no idea is inherently bad. One last bit from Disney- do celebrate creativity, yet always improve upon the results to make it redundant fast!

At the heart of Grassroots Level Innovation at Tata Steel is Knowledge Manthan, a semi-structured knowledge sharing process. These sessions adopt storytelling mode of sharing the much important tacit knowledge. These sessions are hosted by middle-level managers on identified themes where employees from the grassroots come over and share their experiences, good or bad. The environment is kept informal and non- judgmental such that people open up. These sessions are also fused with brainstorming and problem solving sessions from time to time. During the process, a practice or incident shared by one participant may be challenged, modified or corrected by other participants. In some sessions, accidents or unsafe practices are also discussed and agreement is arrived at for a safe working method. These ideas from the shop floor are captured into a web-based system, and made available for viewing by all employees.

The institute (SFI) is devoted to create a new kind of research community- without formal programs or departments, whose itinerant faculty of scientists and researchers engage in collaborative and wildly multidisciplinary work. Since 1984, SFI is involved in multidisciplinary collaborations in the space of physical, biological, computational, and social sciences. What drives and connects them? It is the Free Thinking that drives innovation which is of big-scale. It calls for people who have a broad view of their work and see how it fits into the big picture. Many institutions are keenly studying the functioning of the SFI and engaging with them in a spirit of Open Enquiry. Some of the research topics include: Physics of Complex Systems; Dynamics and Quantitative Studies of Human Behavior; and Emergence, Innovation and Robustness in Evolutionary Systems.

IIt is an assessment used to gain insight into an individual's behavioral tendency in a team environment. The distinctive team roles are defined as -A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. Out of these nine team roles, each has its particular strengths and allowable weaknesses, and each has an important contribution to make to a team. These are: Plant (solves problems); Resource Investigator (develops contacts); Coordinator (clarify goals); Shaper (helps overcome obstacles); Monitor/ Evaluator (judges accurately); Teamworker ( averts friction); Implementer (turn ideas into practical actions); Completer/ Finisher (delivers on time); and Specialist. (provides knowledge and skills). An individual may and often does exhibit strong tendencies towards multiple Roles. Also important to note that Team Roles are not equivalent to personality types.