Innovation-ish

In a World Where Problems are Everywhere, See Opportunity. Your Essential Guide to Everyday Innovation.

Innovation-ish: How Anyone Can Create Breakthrough Solutions to Real Problems in the Real World is your no-nonsense guide to unlocking your innate creativity. Expertly crafted by design strategist Richard Braden and cognitive scientist Tessa Forshaw, this book skips the fluff and dives straight into actionable strategies to ignite your innovative potential.

Shadow Rich and Tessa through their years of experience. Get behind the scenes access to classrooms, companies, and institutions alongside students and professionals, just like you. Hear stories of real people with real challenges and how they learn and discover innovative new solutions by unlocking their creative potential.

Innovation-ish shows you how to solve problems and generate solutions in a huge variety of personal and professional situations. It’s a must-read for people at any stage of life and at any point on their innovation journey.

• If you're new to innovation, this new way of thinking about innovation gives you an easy way in and helps set you on the path.
• If you've been trying to innovate and haven't been successful, Innovation-ish explains why you've been struggling and how to turn your project around.
• If you're experiencing “imposter syndrome,” Innovation-ish reassures you that you're in the right place and have what you need to do it.
• If you have been successful, Innovation-ish helps you amplify it.

They demystify the myths that surround innovation, reveal the six mindsets that underlie innovation, and show how the moves you make drive innovation forward. And they share the latest relevant cognitive science research in a compelling and digestible way - no degree required.

After years as design educators at Harvard and Stanford and consulting with clients around the world they have seen that anyone, regardless of their background, can be Innovation-ish. Packed with clear, actionable steps, it's the definitive guide for managers, executives, entrepreneurs, founders, and team leaders ready to turbocharge their organizations, projects, and careers.

With an Innovation-ish approach, you can solve problems and generate solutions to challenges in your personal life, a small business, a startup or in any department or function of any type of organization.

All you need is an open mind and small sense of adventure. Let's go!

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

Part I Becoming Innovation-ish 1

1 Innovation Hesitation 3

Holding Ourselves Back 4

Creativity Isn’t Optional 8

Anybody Can Do It 9

Key Takeaways 12

2 Innovation-ish Dynamics 13

Focusing on People, Not Steps 15

Thinking Creatively Is Human Nature 17

Unlocking Your Innovative Brain 19

Innovating as a Team Sport 25

Key Takeaways 27

3 The Innovation-ish Compass 29

Choosing Roof-Shots Over Moon-Shots 30

Navigating with Innovation-ish 32

Starting Is Easier Than You Think 36

Key Takeaways 37

Part II Mindsets 39

4 Your Mindset Matters 41

Choosing Your Mindset 43

Exploring the Six Innovation-ish Mindsets 44

Key Takeaways 49

5 The Interactions Mindset 51

Going into the Real World 52

Collecting Different Types of Data 55

Preparing for Interactions 58

Interacting with People 60

Exploring Types of Interactions 62

Key Takeaways 64

6 The Insights Mindset 65

Seeing Insights 67

Developing a Synthesizing Mind 70

Using Different Types of Reasoning 75

Solving the Right Problem 79

Framing Problems 82

Key Takeaways 86

7 The Ideas Mindset 87

Generating Ideas 88

Embracing Wild Ideas 94

Applying Brainstorming Levers 98

Key Takeaways 105

8 The Iterations Mindset 107

Iterating to Learn 108

Testing Your Ideas Early 115

Managing Fidelity and Scale 118

Key Takeaways 122

9 The Inspirations Mindset 123

Inspiring Others 124

Making Stories Sticky 128

Understanding Your Audience 139

Key Takeaways 140

10 The Implications Mindset 141

Asking “Should We?” First 142

Then Asking “Can We?” 148

Key Takeaways 154

Part III Moves 155

11 Moves Are Actions 157

Understanding Move Characteristics 161

Getting Your Hands Dirty 166

Key Takeaways 169

12 Using Moves 171

Using Historical Moves 172

Customizing Moves 176

Translating Moves 179

Finding Analogous Moves 182

Exploring Example Moves 185

Key Takeaways 194

Part IV Metacognition 195

13 Thinking About Moves 197

Mapping Your Moves 198

Creating a Move Map 200

Key Takeaways 207

14 Being Metacognitive 209

Reflecting to Choose Your Strategy 211

Asking Metacognitive Questions 212

Key Takeaways 218

Part V Activating Innovation 219

15 Fueling Innovation 221

Harness Ambiguity 222

Embrace Failure 226

Key Takeaways 232

16 Take Small Steps 233

Increasing Innovation-ish-ness 234

Giving Yourself Permission 235

You Have What You Need to Start 238

Key Takeaways 240

Epilogue 243

Glossary 249

Endnotes 255

Some Sources of Moves and Inspiration 291

Index 297

RICH BRADEN is the founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based consulting firm, People Rocket. The company People Rocket partners with leaders and teams to innovate with confidence to drive clarity, effective execution, and strategic agility in complex, fast-changing environments. For the past 15 years he has been a design educator at universities around the world including Stanford University and Harvard University.

TESSA FORSHAW, PHD, is a cognitive scientist, senior researcher, and co-founder of the Next Level Lab at Harvard University. She teaches design thinking, creativity, and innovation at the Harvard Innovation Lab and Harvard University DCE. She also served on the Teaching Faculty at Stanford’s design school for several years, and has worked in innovation consultancies across the world.

Innovation-ish: How Anyone Can Create Breakthrough Solutions to Real Problems in the Real World is your no-nonsense guide to unlocking your innate creativity. Expertly crafted by design strategist Rich Braden and cognitive scientist Tessa Forshaw, this book skips the fluff and dives straight into actionable strategies to ignite your innovative potential.

Rich and Tessa draw on years of experience advising companies, students, professionals, and others on how to supercharge their capacity for innovation and give you a behind the scenes look at the classrooms, organizations, and institutions that have transformed themselves into more dynamic, energetic, and exciting versions of themselves.

This masterclass cuts to the chase, revealing exactly how real people with real challenges solve real problems. You’ll learn how to overcome imposter syndrome, reignite stalled projects, and cultivate the resilience and agility necessary to thrive in today’s dynamic world.

Forget theory—Innovation-ish is your hands-on tool kit packed with proven methods to supercharge creativity, leverage skills you already have, and confidently build solutions without the fear of getting it “wrong.”

Innovation-ish demolishes the myth that innovation belongs only to “geniuses” and offers six practical mindsets anyone can adopt immediately. Packed with clear, actionable steps, it’s the definitive guide for managers, executives, entrepreneurs, founders, and team leaders ready to turbocharge their organizations, projects, and careers.

Stop dreaming about innovation. Start doing it. Innovation-ish gives you everything you need to spark original ideas and build groundbreaking solutions today.

Praise for innovation-ish

“Innovation is at the core of every successful business transformation, no matter the size of your problem or your company. If you’re looking for a clear and data-driven approach to build your innovative skill set with confidence, you won’t find a better book than Innovation-ish by Rich Braden and Tessa Forshaw.”
—MARTIN LINDSTROM, New York Times bestselling author of Buyology and The Ministry of Common Sense

“Innovation-ish is an actionable playbook for every aspiring innovator. Whether you are a CEO, a startup founder, an executive, or a student, its frameworks will help you succeed because they capture how real people solve real problems.”
—STEFANOS ZENIOS, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Faculty Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Stanford Graduate School of Business

“Innovation is more than just a skill; it is essential for leadership, citizenship, and navigating the future. Braden and Forshaw draw on research and real-world experience to equip readers with accessible strategies for learning, leading, and adapting with purpose and vision. They skillfully blend fresh ideas and personal agency into a practical guide, making innovation accessible to everyone from students to policymakers. At a time when educational systems are navigating deep complexity, Innovation-ish offers a clear, grounded, and inspiring approach.”
—NONIE K. LESAUX, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Innovation-ish skips the vague theory and dives deep into concrete strategies to help you generate new ideas, overcome analysis paralysis, beat imposter syndrome, turn around stalled projects, and rediscover the confidence and creativity that already exists within you.

Rich and Tessa walk you through the six mindsets that underlie innovation, how taking small actions drive you forward with momentum, and why thoughtful reflection is critical to choosing the right next step. Along the way, they bust unproductive myths about innovation and prove that no matter your background, your experience and expertise are all you need to tackle tough challenges in creative and useful ways.

“From microloans to megaprojects, Innovation-ish makes the case that breakthrough thinking isn’t about scale, it’s about mindset. Whether you’re at your kitchen table or sitting in a Silicon Valley boardroom, if you want impact that grows with you, start with Innovation-ish.”
—Premal Shah, Co-Founder Kiva.org

“Innovation is at the core of every successful business transformation, no matter the size of your problem or your company. If you’re looking for a clear and data-driven approach to build your innovative skillset with confidence, you won’t find a better book than Innovation-ish by Richard Braden and Tessa Forshaw.”
—Martin Lindstrom, New York Times bestselling author of Buyology and The Ministry of Common Sense

“In Innovation-ish, readers will find the cognitive strategies needed to transform their creative ideas into actionable solutions that drive meaningful results.”
—Olav Schewe, internationally bestselling author of Learn Like a Pro