Learning About Innovation From Unexpected Places

For several years now, Fast Company Magazine and Monitor Consulting have been compiling a list of non-profit organizations as part of their Social Capitalist Awards and what struck me as interesting was how some of them used innovative approaches in order to achieve their objectives.

One organization that stood out was Reach Out and Read. They involve doctors and nurses as reading evangelists and get volunteers to read to kids while they're waiting, showing parents how it's done.

Is it possible to apply such thinking in the corporate world? Now I am not suggesting to look for situations where people or things are idle and set them in motion on some task to improve utilization. What I am suggesting is that we need to heighten our awareness or apply mindfulness so that we find opportunities where they might not have been evident before.

Ellen Langer, Professor of Psychology, at Harvard University and author of On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity, provides help on how to increase mindfulness and, as a result, find opportunity for innovation.