How Innovators Think

A L I N A YA R Y N A
FTM 4-4
After interacting with dozens of innovators over mo
re than two decades,
I was able to observe that the mindset of innovators 
differs from the thinking of non innovators in two w
ays:

• Innovators understand the 21st century

environment and don’t fall for the big lies that
surround innovation.
• Innovators share unique characteristics in how
they think.
1st difference: innovators don’t fall for the big lies
Being innovative requires a deep understanding of the
world we live in. Innovators don’t fall for what I call
the “Big Lies”:

• Everybody loves innovation

• Everybody is an innovator
• Innovating is easy
• You need to innovate first
Peter Thiel famously said that rather than be the first
mover you want to be the last mover. Google is the last
search engine, Facebook the last social network.
• Winner takes all
• Don’t trust anyone
• Innovation forces a complete reinvention

• Innovation requires experience

No candle-maker has become a bulb
manufacturer, no carriage-maker has
become a car producer, and the post office
did not invent the email. Tesla did not exist
15 years ago.
 2nd difference: the way
innovators think Treat Treat success as a challenge

This is how innovators think

and behave. Change Change when things are good

Try Try more often

Don’t fight Don’t fight the inevitable

Fight Always fight positively

If someone attacks your business model, outsmart or out-innovate them. For

example, the only way to compete with Uber is not to pass laws that will only
slow their growth; it is to offer a better, cheaper, more pervasive service.
• Learn from the past
• Unlearn, relearn

• Focus on vision and data

•

We tend to think the world is

divided into people that have a
strong vision on one side (think
Steve Jobs), and people who
have tons of data on the other
side (Google). Innovators have
both: vision and data.
The only way to innovate
is to change how you think
• Understanding the world we live in and adopting
the correct mindset will allow you to develop a
true culture of innovation, the first and most
fundamental step in making any organization
innovative.
• Innovation is both super simple and super
complicated. Super simple because anyone,
anywhere can innovate. Complicated because it is
not a thing, nor a process or a project: it is a
culture.