Dr. Judah Folkman. It’s likely you’ve never heard of him, so here’s a quick biography. In 1971, Dr. Folkman, a pediatric surgeon, presented research that cancer could be treated by something other than chemotherapy. This was odd because Dr. Folkman was not an oncologist. *Side note: chemotherapy is basically filling the tumor with enough poison to kill it without killing the host*.
His research suggested you could interrupt communication between the cancerous tumor and the surrounding part of the body and the tumor would die. The presentation and research were rejected. After 32 torturously long years of denial, rejection, mockery, and career threats, another doctor utilizing Dr. Folkman’s research presented the best survival rates among colon cancer patients that had ever been seen. An attendee at the presentation said, ‘I wish Dr. Folkman was alive to see this.’ Dr. Folkman was sitting a few chairs away from him. The drug is Avastin, the company that produces it is Genentech, and it is worth about $38 billion dollars. Dr. Folkman has no stock in the company or claims on the patent. He is widely recognized as the genius behind it all, has won countless awards, and received plenty of financial gains which he donated mostly to his own hospital before his death.
It is amazing to me how long it takes us to embrace innovative ideas. We all appear so ignorant for how long we reject and ignore great ideas causing ourselves needless inconvenience and, in the case of Dr. Folkman, even loss of lives. I recently engaged in a prolonged conversation about innovation with a thought leader who was podcasting long before anyone else was and has turned that experience into a variety of other innovative ideas. It was an enjoyable conversation but when I asked him why he started podcasting when few others were he told me he didn’t really know. He just thought it was fantastic. While that is pretty cool, it did not help me very much. So here are some of my thoughts about innovation based on reading, conversations, and my experiences solving problems.
My current (and still developing) definition of innovation in a group setting is ‘solving problems for an organization before the problems begin to hurt the organization.’ Every organization, no matter how high functioning, has problems. Google, BMW, Apple, and Nike all have problems. However, only a select few of those problems have the potential to actively hurt those organizations. We innovate well when we solve those types of problems before they rise to that level. What problems do you have around your organization that are driving you or people nuts?
Regardless of how you define innovation, it is important that teams keep doing it. Change is a constant in our current times. Old ideas are out, new ideas are in and then new ideas are out and old ideas are back in. It can be maddening. Creative problem-solving and forward-thinking are never out of style. Safi Bahcall in ‘Loonshots’ described innovation and innovators as out of style before becoming in style which is why so few innovations actually survive. Innovations are not cool at first, they are actually clunky and unattractive. ‘The Founders’ is the story of the young entrepreneurs who founded PayPal and went on to create or fund other things like Tesla, NetScape, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Max Levchin, one of those founders, bemoans his most innovative ideas were never realized because others killed them before they were ready to take off. (I’m not sure what is more innovative than PayPal!) Jeff Henderson in ‘Know What You’re For’ takes on innovation at the root by describing why individuals stop innovating. Fear of failure and uninformed feedback can kill an innovative spirit. CEOs, pastors, superintendents, and every other type of leader need to allow space for innovation to grow. At this point, it is important to frame up innovation realistically. I am not suggesting that the next PayPal or Tesla is coming out of your team or organization. What I am saying is that we are living in fast-changing times and it is the small, creative innovations that can keep your group or organization healthy. But, we are all so busy that we do not allow enough time for trying new little things. It is practical everyday innovations that we have to let bloom around us.
So here are a couple suggestions on how to make sure as leaders we are fueling innovation all around us rather than killing it:
Believe in each other and the best about each other. 2x national champion coach, Bill Self of the University of Kansas, states the most important thing he does is convince his team he believes in them. When someone feels that the group believes in them, it reduces their fear and replaces their doubt. How do you do this? The simplest way is to tell people on your team that you believe in them. Especially after they’ve struggled to make a new idea come to fruition. Authentically telling someone you believe in them can fill a person’s tank with the fuel to stay innovative.
Avoid feedback vacuums. The worst feedback on our jobs is no feedback at all. Few things are as growth-inducing as authentic feedback. Sincere feedback that is positive because a team member did a great job, or negative because they didn’t meet the standard that you know they are capable of is a great way to keep innovation moving in a positive direction. It’s okay to struggle, but let’s keep struggling in the right direction by diving into feedback and eliminating feedback vacuums.
Show up for each other when it is all going wrong. When things go really wrong for us, the only people we want around are those that we know understand what we are going through. I have read more than a few stories of scientists discovering major breakthroughs after countless failures. They state that the only place they wanted to be after a failure was back in their lab with other scientists who understood their frustrations. I know as an athlete that the only people I want to be around after a loss are my teammates. I knew they understood my mood. When I became a coach, I made sure I was around my players when we lost to let them know that I understood their disappointment. Interestingly, it was much easier to get back to practice the next day if we had spent time together after our loss. If you are that type of leader to the people around you, your struggles, failures, and stresses can be handled together. It is that ‘togetherness’ that gives us the courage to lead forward in innovative thinking and efforts.
The potential for big and small innovative ideas is all around you. Be the type of leader that encourages the people around you to bring those ideas to life.
Keep on keepin’ on, friends!
*Bonus content: Here are a couple resources to go deeper on this idea - ‘Loonshots’ by Safi Bahcall, ‘Know What You’re For’ by Jeff Henderson, and ‘The Founders’ by Jimmy Soni.
‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on relentlessly leading yourself and others well. Read about it more here.
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