Dr. Todd Siler speaking at  the Night with a Futurist about Future of Innovation

June’s Night with a Futurist saw Todd Siler discussing the future of innovation. Siler believes that the key constraints to innovation lie in the limitations individuals place around their thinking and creativity added to the subsequent inability to communicate ideas effectively to other people. Siler noted that people “live in a highly compartmentalized world” where different knowledge is siloed. Yet in order to innovate, people must “stand back and reintegrate.” This process can be frightening given the chaos that exists within the human mind but is necessary because inspiration results from the “chaotic moment of piecing elements together.” Siler urged people to “take time to reflect” which allows this integration of ideas to happen.

Even if an individual comes to grips with the fact that the “innovation process is naturally messy,” he still must be able to communicate and explain the idea to others. Insecurity plays a role as many ideas go unspoken for fear of appearing foolish. Beyond this fear, there is still the need to find a way express the new idea. To this end, Siler urged the use of tools to “make the thought process tangible” as breakthroughs happen by giving form to the thought process. One way to encourage this is to “provide basic building materials and encourage” people to express their thoughts by constructing physical models of their ideas. Siler noted the opportunity to generate broad understanding among those with diverse experiences in an accelerated time frame via this method. The fundamental belief behind these methods is that people are much better able to understand through doing as opposed to simply listening or looking.

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