Are You an Innovator? (Part 2)

By Rasul Sha'ir, 3, July, 2008

THE LEARNING PERSONAS

Individuals and organizations need to constantly gather new sources of information in order to expand their knowledge and grow, so the first three personas are learning roles. These personas are driven by the idea that no matter how successful a company currently is, no one can afford to be complacent.  The world is changing at an accelerated pace, and today's great idea may be tomorrow's anachronism.  The learning roles help keep your team from becoming to internally focused and remind the organization not be so smug about what you "know." People who adopt the learning roles are humble enough to question their own world view, and in doing so they remain open to new insights everyday.

1. The Anthropologist brings new learning and insights into the organization by observing human behavior and developing a deep understanding of how people interact physically and emotionally with products services and spaces. When an IDEO human-factors person camps out in a hospital room for forty hours with an elderly patient undergoing surgery - as described in the first chapter of the book- she is living the life of the Anthropologist and helping to develop new health care services.

2. The Experimenter prototypes new ideas continuously, learning by a process of enlightened trial and error.  The Experimenter takes calculated risks to achieve success through a state of "experimentation as implementation." When BMW bypassed all its traditional advertising channels and created theater quality short films for bmwfilms.com, no one knew whether the experiment would succeed. Their runway success, which underscores the rewards that flow to Experimenters is talked about in greater detail in the second chapter of the book.

3. The Cross-Pollinator explores other industries and cultures, then translates those findings and revelations to fit the unique needs of your enterprise.  When a open minded Japanese businesswoman travels 5,000 miles to find inspiration or a new brand, she finds a concept an ocean away that sparks a billion-dollar retail empire, and demonstrates the leverage of a Cross-Pollinator.  Her full story is captured in Chapter 3 of the book.