Yes, we are all Innovators Anand

Stephen

We can agree that the term innovator is currently a very loaded term. Recall the countless PowerPoint presentations with the word innovator or one of its variants. Additionally, using Google Ngram Viewer, we can see the exponential use of the word in books in the past couple of decades. The term Innovator has become so fetishized that title bearers attain demigod status. All this emphasis on the Innovator inaccurately glorifies the process of innovation, discouraging everyday innovators. By recounting a personal story, I outline a couple of ways to encourage more of us to innovate.

The origins of the word can be traced to before the industrial revolution. Even in that era, it was a loaded word, albeit differently. While it is presently a desirable title, being labeled an innovator in that era could mean someone was also carving your epitaph. If you were an innovator or perceived as one, you could easily lose your limbs, be imprisoned, or be sentenced to death.

The Architecture Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry must solve overly complex problems with limited resources. Hence, rather than taking extreme positions on innovation, I hope to awaken the inner Innovator in all of us by illustrating a more moderate stance on the term.

We need to develop resilient solutions. But can we afford only a select few among us as designated innovators?

Of course, not!

Hagiographers of innovators often attribute innovations to a single person or a single moment of invention. However, epistemologists of science remind us that inventions are based on several interconnected more minor innovations. A significant innovator does not stand in isolation. They stand not just on the shoulders of giants before them but crucially on the shoulders of ordinary innovators before them.

Presently, many would agree that Elon Musk is an extraordinary innovator. Notwithstanding his extreme self-belief, even he attributes his innovations to a sum of many more minor intricately connected innovations. I say this not to minimize the value of innovation or diminish the value of crucial innovators through history. Equally, I do not suggest final products of all processes are innovations; and, therefore, everyone is an innovator. Instead, I aim to encourage us all in the AEC industry to awaken our inner innovators by de-fetishizing the term.

We can trace the word innovator to the sixteenth-century Latin verb innovare, meaning ‘to renew, restore’. It also means ‘to change’ into new. At the core, the main task of AEC professionals is to change the form of materials, creating something anew or restoring it. Here we are fundamentally speaking of innovation. Hence, whether we like it or not are collectively participating in innovation.

We must solve problems at a scale never encountered in history, so we cannot remain complacent. We do not have the luxury of depending on solutions from a few designated innovators. Instead, we, collectively, must become innovators, finding creative solutions to complex problems. We are obligated to discover the next fire collectively, warding off danger and the next wheel propelling us into meaningful, sustainable development.

How then do we awaken this Innovator? I suggest two ways we can do this: learning shamelessly and listening empathetically. What I am about to present is not ‘scientific’ proof. You can call it an anecdotal personal story or an autoethnographic vignette. Regardless, it is a personal story of the love of learning that has not been shared beyond family. By sharing it, I hope it illustrates an uncomplicated way toward innovation.

Going back three decades to my high school, I took Calculus. Unsurprisingly, I was confused, excited, and frustrated. My seventy-four-year-old Grandma, Mary, was living with us during that time. She was born in 1910 in South India and barely completed eighth grade. It was more than six decades since she picked up any math book; even then, I doubt her books mentioned Calculus.

Every day when I got back from school, I noticed my math books were missing. I soon realized that my grandma was ‘stealing’ my books. Why would a seventy-four-year-old want my Calculus books? I scoffed in my head. I hoped she was not using the books in place of a stand for her masala bottles. and observing empathetically. So, let us start learning shamelessly and listening with empathy as we continue to solve complex problems.

In a couple of weeks, as if stealing my books did not cause my self-absorbed teenage version enough frustration, grandma started to teach me Calculus. She looked over my shoulder and pointed out the mistakes I kept making. Every time I mumbled—inaudibly, of course— show-off! My teenage-self was thoroughly irritated with this puny seventyfour-year-old teaching me Calculus which she learned by herself.

Yes, I was annoyed! However, unbeknownst to me, my grandma gave me one of the most significant gifts. Well, two! First was the example of the love for learning shamelessly, learning purely for the sake of learning. Second, it showed me the value of listening and observing empathetically. Listening and learning how she solved Calculus problems, I began to learn how to learn.

Grandma learned shamelessly without fear of failure. There was neither a carrot nor a stick that drove her to learn. The joy of learning brought a smile to her face, and that smile is still fresh in my mind three decades later. It was learning purely for learning—creating knowledge from existing information. Of course, I cannot say for sure. Maybe she just wanted to show off to her teenage grandson.

Undoubtedly, my ego was bruised. With less ‘education’ than me and as someone who had not opened a math book in six decades, my grandma figured out Calculus problems before me. Licking my wounds, I wanted to see how she did it.

What ensued was my first lesson in empathetic listening. Not what the book or teacher prescribed, but to listen to her experiences of tackling the problem. I looked at how she tackled Calculus problems. It was a masterclass in reverse engineering. She worked out patterns in the example problems. But importantly, it was an excellent opportunity for me to watch someone learn for the sake of learning.

I noticed that she learned shamelessly. Anytime she was remotely confused about a word, she would look it up in the dictionary. That was the first time I looked up the phrase Calculus. Until that point, I assumed I knew the meaning. It was an important lesson in not assuming what you know. Learn Shamelessly!

Rediscovering the joy of learning is the first step toward awakening our inner innovators. So, rewind that imaginary clock and take yourself to a place when you were a little kid. Now, think of the joy learning new skills brought you. Remember how shameless you were as you learned new skills – just learning purely for the happiness it gave you. Whether making something or restoring something, recall the process of learning and the joy it brought you regardless of the outcome. Learning is what enabled us to survive as a species.

How else can we learn to learn? Here, counterintuitively, I suggest another essential tool is empathetically listening (and observing). Developing an empathetic ear helps us understand problems from different perspectives. I am not suggesting that we should uncritically agree with every other view. Rather, we look at other perspectives that open additional possibilities for new and improved solutions.

When we listen empathetically, it takes us out of our comfort zone. It is fundamental to learning to learn because it opens multiple ways of solving problems, leading to better solutions. It forces us to challenge our assumptions, refine assumptions, and test hypotheses, which helps us produce better solutions. Moreover, it changes our mindset and focuses on thinking about the end-users of solutions.

Given the magnitude of our problems, let us strive towards acknowledging everyday innovations and making innovation quotidian. I hope my personal story illustrates two ways we could make innovations part of our daily lives. First, learning without shame rekindles the joy of learning, enables us to learn, and makes innovation more feasible. Equally, we gain insight into other perspectives by listening