Chapter 7 Section 6: Innovation can be cultivated

Innovation can be cultivated I have been at Stanford University for 10 years and have been the executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) in the School of Engineering.Our mission is to equip those scientists and engineers with innovative thinking that supports them no matter what their role in the job is.We believe that it is not enough to just teach students technology, let them understand how to be a creative leader, so that they can gain and succeed in their future work. We have been committed to cultivating "T-shaped" talents.Such talents must not only have a certain depth of subject knowledge, but also have a certain breadth of innovative spirit and business philosophy, so that they can unite talents from other disciplines, work more efficiently, and put their ideas into practice.No matter what role we play in our work, we all have some problems, it may be small problems in our daily life, or it may be a big problem that plagues the whole world and needs more attention and investment, and having a creative mind is the solution The essential.In fact, creativity plays a decisive role in cultivating students' survival skills such as leadership, teamwork ability, negotiation ability, innovative spirit, and decision-making ability.

I also teach at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, often affectionately referred to as the "D. school."Design is an interdisciplinary subject, and it has absorbed teacher resources from many professional disciplines such as the School of Engineering, School of Medicine, School of Business, and School of Education.The college was planned and established by David Kelly, a professor of mechanical engineering. He is also the founder of the famous design company IDEO, known for his ability to design extremely innovative products.Each course in the School of Design is taught by teachers from at least two disciplines, and the topics covered range from minimal cost control to creative event planning to elderly care.When assigning some questions to the students that both teachers and students have a headache, and there is no standard answer, I personally felt the passion of unity and cooperation, racking their brains and whimsical ideas.

This book is a collection of stories that happened in the classroom during my teaching at Stanford, as well as some experiences I gained as a researcher, businessman, management consultant, teacher, and writer.Other content comes from the personal experience of some entrepreneurs, investors, artists and scholars around me. They are willing to share their success or failure experience. I am really lucky to meet these people who dare to challenge themselves.