First of all, get a broad education. Communications skills are really important. History is important. Some business skills. Integrity is another important thing. You’ve got to do things for the right reasons. Another piece of advice is not just to suggest ideas but get in there and do it. When you come up with an idea, pause and think of as many different ways of doing that as possible early on. And then think of as many other applications of that idea. I’ve had a lot of cases where I suggested to somebody, „Come back to me tomorrow with 10 other ways of doing it.“ They grumbled about it and the next day they would have 20 different ways of doing it. And we’re throwing rocks at the original way because they thought of much better ways. Patience, durability and stubbornness are really important characteristics because when you’re developing something it means that, if successful, you got over all the hurdles and impediments that have stopped everybody else. All good innovators that I know have a lot of stamina – more than the average person. So they are able to overcome those obstacles. And honesty and flexibility. You’ve got to be honest with yourself when you evaluate your ideas. The other advice I have for young innovators is to network and to share. Give a lot of credit to others that you work with. The more credit you give, the more you get in return.

Art Fry, Erfinder der PostITs, in einem Interview mit Eastman Innovation Lab.(via Design Sojourn)

Bild: Pavel Krok auf wikimedia.org CC BY SA 2.5gen