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[[Birth of an Idea. Joel Babbit. Mother Nature Network]]
[[How do you define innovation?]]
[I don't think innovation--for somebody to say that a company is innovative]
[because they've got one, single aspect of their product or the culture or something]
[is like talking to a man who's tie is a great tie but the rest of his outfit looks horrible]
[and saying, "Now there's a sharp dresser."]
[It's never limited to one piece or one thing. ]
[It's got to be part of the entire makeup of a company, ]
[from the furniture to the people that work there to the way you behave yourself ]
[and to the way you create your product. ]
[[What is the most exciting thing to you about Mother Nature Network?]]
[There are very few things that are as exciting as having a business concept,]
[where nothing exists--like no name, no office, no employees, no materials--and]
[then seeing that develop and grow. ]
[It's one of the most exciting things in the world. ]
[I will also say it's one of the scariest things in the world. ]
[It is one of the most--things that will make you the most nervous, keep you up at night, ]
[But that, in a way, is what makes it exciting. ]
[[How do you encourage or develop innovation?]]
[How do you develop innovation?]
[You know, there's all these academic exercises that people have, and books]
[you can read on the subject, but I think there's a couple of relevant lessons]
[One is that--you know--somebody taught me a little exercise.]
[If you are writing a letter and you want to see if there are any typos or anything]
[don't read it--you know--from left to right. ]
[Read it from right to left, because you'll notice things that way ]
[as opposed to--you know--you read it the regular way, you can miss things easily ]
[because you're so used to it that way. Do it in reverse. ]
[I'd say the same thing about trying to get better innovation. ]
[Don't approach it by going the standard way. ]
[Maybe look at it backwards, a whole different way. ]
[[How do you encourage or develop innovation?]]
[When it comes to innovation, one of my favorite quotes from Einstein is]
[that beginners see unlimited possibilities; experts see only a few. ]
[I think that's a very important lesson, because the innovation in the future and]
[the successes of the future don't necessarily come from those that are]
[the most experienced or in the highest positions.]
[They can often come from newcomers who have very little experience ]
[because they see things from a new perspective. ]
[[What inspires you? Where do ideas come from?]]
[Well, you know when you ask what inspires me, I'm always reminded of]
[this story that I read about John Lennon, the song "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite," ]
[I think it may be on Sgt. Pepper's. ]
[And he tells the story of going into an antiques store and seeing this ]
[circus poster from the late 1800s that was about this show. ]
[And almost every word of the lyrics actually came straight from this poster that he bought. ]
[You know--it said "For the benefit of Mr. Kite," etc. ]
[And the reason I love that story is it shows that inspiration can come from ]
[anything that you see, any time of the day, anywhere. ]
[It's not that there is a single source like a book or some exercise that you do. ]
[It's really all around us, constantly, and it's for the people who see it]
[as opposed to maybe the people who go looking for it.]
[[What role does communication play in innovation?]]
[I think that's one of the interesting things about the environment]
[and probably the other topics like it, is that it usually starts off ]
[with a small core of scientists and activists and experts, ]
[and therefore the communication of it is always in very academic ]
[But it's only when you explain it in a way that's easy to understand ]
[and engaging that you attract a much larger audience. ]
[[How important is it to have a "big" or "new" idea?]]
[I must tell you that I think that the "big idea" is probably the most]
[overestimated concept in business, along with originality, I might add,]
[because it's not about just having a great idea. ]
[In fact, it's not about having a new idea, sometimes. ]
[It's about doing it better than anyone else and doing it in an innovative way. ]
[So execution is usually much more important than having a big idea. ]
[You know, I don't think Ray Kroc was the first person that ever]
[came up with the idea of having a hamburger chain,]
[or Walton was not the first person that ever came up with the idea of]
[discount chain stores, but they executed it better than anyone else. ]
[And that's why I think that the concept of the big idea is just way overestimated. ]
