Two-thirds of our innovation skills come through learning—from first understanding the skill, then practicing it,

and ultimately gaining confidence in our capacity to create.

First and foremost, innovators count on a cognitive skill that we call “associational thinking” or simply “associating.”
Associating happens as the brain tries to synthesize and make sense of novel inputs. It helps innovators discover new
directions by making connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas. Innovative breakthroughs
often happen at the intersection of diverse disciplines and fields.

Put simply, innovative thinkers connect fields, problems, or ideas that others find unrelated.
Innovators, like Jobs, ask questions to understand how things really they are today, why are that way, and how they
might be changed or disrupted.

Innovators consistently demonstrate a high Q/A ratio, where questions (Q) not only outnumber answers (A) in a
typical conversation but are valued at least as highly as good answers.

Collectively, there is a set of five skills: the cognitive skill of associating and the behavioral skills of questioning,
observing, networking, and experimenting—constitute what we call the innovator’s DNA, or the code for generating
innovative business ideas.