, always looking for opportunities to create value in novel ways. ‘True innovators’ operate in a special mode ‘Innovation’ is a trendy topic in our ‘connected world’ — everybody is talking about it: . Typically, the ‘innovation discussion’, approaches the topic from the perspective of the corporation, for instance, . how to define it, how important it is, how it is changing the way we work, how to introduce the culture of innovation etc how to introduce the right processes and technology to enable innovation But, how about defining innovation from an innovator’s point of view? “True innovators are driven by the to come up with high-impact ideas and concepts” spirit, the energy and willingness Those with the to come up with new ideas, concepts and potentially products? Those who can ‘randomly’ — with or without a formal stimulation, or of ; those who are ready to experiment and accept failure as part of the process; in further developing their ideas, driven by passion and possibly against the odds? Have you ever tried to spot the natural innovators ‘out there’? spirit, the energy and willingness conceive great ideas in out specific context those who get carried away The ‘True Innovator’ , always looking for opportunities to create value in novel ways; to and other and at . ‘True innovators’ operate in a special mode reuse existing knowledge, technologies ‘building blocks’ create unexpected value scale And this is happening , as an , an . Companies, cannot just ask employees to enter this mode - this is a special that can only be achieved ‘naturally’: companies need to empower those identified ‘true innovators’ to attract and inspire like-minded talent, drive the cultural change from within and . pursuit of novelty and value continuously independent thread OS-level background process innovation state of mind empower the innovation spirit, by example : those nearly ‘spiritual’ experiences of conceiving (potentially) great ideas; the post-processing raw ideas to explore and validate high-impact opportunities; the — when and and concepts; the when realizing the resulting potential. ‘True innovators’ experience special innovation moments moments of excitement — when moments of high-energy sharing, communicating promoting ideas moments of completeness Peak (innovation) Experiences is frequently referenced for his well-known work on the . I will reference his definition of the ‘ ’ during which “ …”. Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs peak experiences — envisioned moments of extraordinary experience a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient and yet a part of the world, more aware of truth, justice, harmony, goodness Maslow identified a few major characteristics of a including “ ’” and “ ” — peak experience the feeling of using all capacities and capabilities at their highest potential, or being ‘fully functioning a free mind that is flexible and open to creative thoughts and ideas what a great description of the mental state of a true innovator! image: pixabay “the moment when you clearly see something ‘magical’ — a non-obvious and novel concept that simply makes perfect sense” I would define an ‘innovation moment’ as : it is the moment when you clearly see something ‘magical’ — a non-obvious and novel (to you) scenario that simply makes perfect sense — a scenario possibly coming out of random, ‘parallel’ and unmanaged stream of thoughts. It is this critical moment when you engage with your idea and become obsessed with it; when everything else can wait, even Maslow’s lower-level physiological needs. a kind of a peak experience ’ … “… the feeling of using all capacities and capabilities at their highest potential, or being ‘fully functioning a free mind that is flexible and open to creative thoughts and ideas …” I do believe that , as it should be. And true innovation is driven by people: yes, can significantly help in introducing innovation to a corporation; but what makes a real difference is the true innovation spirit is unmanageable processes, methodologies, techniques and tools empowerment of those ‘natural’ innovators. Companies need the right frameworks and processes to let ‘true innovators’ share the innovation spirit and help like-minded people develop their skills; to empower them in establishing the and drive the transformation to an . innovation culture innovation-led enterprise