What are the key elements for generating great ideas?
Mario Gabriele of The Generalist, a blog that posts technology-related articles, selected and explained seven studies from academic research that investigated human resources, methods, and environment creation that can generate ideas that generate innovation. I am.
Where Do Great Ideas Come From? | The Generalist
Renowned management scholar Peter Drucker once said, 'Ideas are cheap and plentiful. The value lies in effectively placing those ideas into situations that develop them into action.' Although this position is common in academia and the business theory industry as a whole, Gabriele says, ``It is true that ideas require effective placement, but if there are no ideas, there are no placements.'' No. Ideas are the seeds of all progress, and their rarity and value are increasing every year.' In fact, a paper (PDF file) published by Stanford University in 2018 states, ``While research efforts have increased significantly, research productivity has fallen sharply, making it difficult to find ideas.'' ” was shown.
As the importance of ideas and the difficulty of generating ideas increase, Gabriele investigated multiple academic studies focusing on how to generate good ideas, and found seven points. We focus on research and explain important points.
・1: How to use incentives
First, Gabriele emphasizes the importance of incentives. The `` cobra effect '' is often cited in business and politics, which states that ``In order to reduce the number of cobras, which are poisonous snakes, people were given rewards for catching cobras, and the number of people who bred cobras in large numbers increased.'' Incentives are effective in many cases, but simply introducing them can create a cobra effect that strongly pushes you in the opposite direction.
Previous research has focused on the differences between the groups that fund researchers, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), as preferred forms of incentives. NIH provides funding to researchers with short review cycles, with an emphasis on tangible results. On the other hand, HHMI takes a long-term perspective and funds human resources rather than projects themselves. As a result, the authors concluded that HHMI-funded researchers performed better in a number of ways. In response to this, Mr. Gabriele analyzed that the incentive to place more importance on human resources than on projects has a higher 'tolerance for failure,' and that this supports long-term thinking and experimentation, which is more likely to lead to success. I am.
・2: Talk to people outside your field
The second important point for generating good ideas is, ``Sometimes people who know little about a particular topic can provide solutions that experts are unaware of,'' Gabriel says. A 2014
However, the study points out that 'ideas from non-experts are more creative because they do not involve practical knowledge, but in reality they may be nearly impossible to implement, mainly due to cost.' I am.
・3: Work together and get feedback
Gabriele cites not only receiving advice but also working together as a factor in generating good ideas. The process of feedback from meetings and data sharing is very effective, especially 'answering questions' when coming up with ideas. Questions asked from a different perspective or narrower knowledge or perspective play an important role in reconstructing knowledge.
・4: About “superstars” who generate good ideas
While groups become important, 'superstars' who generate good ideas often emerge. A study published in 2008 called ``
As a result, 8.8% to 12.2% were recorded as having 'significantly and significantly reduced production.' If a super star is generating ideas, actively share information and knowledge, secure joint research funds, etc. so that production does not drop significantly even if the superstar is lost in some way. Gabriele points out that it is necessary to do so.
・5: Where in the organization do good ideas come from?
When ideas are generated from a group or organization, it is also important to pay attention to where in the network where people and information are exchanged, ideas are generated. In 2004, American sociologist Ronald Burt studied the structure of organizational networks by studying managers at America's largest electronics company.
According to Bart, typical top-down organizations have ``structural holes'' in which information is not shared well between groups within the organization. Even if managers receive information from each group as a whole, it is difficult to generate new ideas from that information. On the other hand, a ``broker,'' who receives and integrates information from each group, ``has an advantage in vision and can see the organization better,'' says Burt. Organizational networks have certain restrictions, and those in positions that are less subject to such restrictions are better able to generate high-quality ideas.
・6: Motivation
In 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) focused on the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on research efforts and outcomes for more than 11,000 research and development scientists. In research, scientists answer questions about why they chose their current job or research content, and their answers include 'extrinsic motivation' such as salary, research funding, and access to special positions, as well as responsibility and intellectual challenge. I ranked it as “intrinsic motivation.” We then analyzed their reasons for choosing their jobs, along with their weekly working hours and the number of patents they had obtained in the past five years.
Research has shown that effort and innovation are more correlated with intrinsic motivation than with extrinsic motivation. Scientists who choose a career out of curiosity work more hours and obtain more patents. On the other hand, scientists motivated by high pay tended to work fewer hours, and scientists motivated by job security tended to have lower creative output.
・7: Age group to fill in good ideas
Economist Benjamin Jones cites ``the increasing sophistication of critical education'' and ``changes in the frontiers of knowledge'' as reasons why ideas are becoming harder to find. As the level of knowledge in a field increases, the amount of education required to reach that level increases. As a result, the age of those achieving notable innovations has increased significantly. The graph below shows that the age at which the ability to innovate peaks has shifted before 1935, from 1935 to 1965, and after 1965.
In response to Jones' findings, Gabriele said, ``From a societal perspective, it's worrying that young people are becoming less likely to innovate. Even if you find yourself in a situation where you can't come up with new ideas, it may make you think, ``With time, things will get better.''
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