🍂🍁 Early fall always brings that return-to-school feeling for me. What a great time to reflect on the #InnovativeTechnologyLeader program I completed at Stanford University Graduate School of Business in July. The wisdom within this excellent program remains with me today.
Amazingly, I can fit my key program learnings into one sentence, which is a testament to how incredibly well Baba Shiv (one of my absolute favorite Stanford professors!) designed it alongside the program director Angel Dodson:
#InnovativeTechnologyLeader thinks both like an #Actor 👨🎤🎬 and an #Engineer 👷♀️🛠️
Acting and engineering processes have much in common:
✅ Requirements Gathering 👷♀️🛠️ is like Character Development 👨🎤🎬
✅ Development 👷♀️🛠️ is like Preparation 👨🎤🎬
✅ Deployment 👷♀️🛠️ is like Showtime 👨🎤🎬
Both crafts require essential tools that together drive technology innovation:
🔵 #Precision (Solve for the right “it”) defines vital innovation scope and focus. But without #Clarity (What’s your role? Who’s your audience?) even the greatest innovation may not deliver user value.
🔴 #Prototyping (Build ▶ Assess ▶ Improve; Repeat) allows you to pivot quickly and accelerate progress. But without #Storytelling (connecting emotionally with your audience) you risk stakeholder buy-in and your innovation will never scale.
⚫ #Premortem (Preemptively address risks) will help you avoid both the common pitfalls and less common risks. But without #Presence (Your best performance, adjusted on the spot) you may fail to read your audience and overlook subtle cues in feedback from your board, investors, or customers ahead of the launch.
So there you have it: the six tools in the Innovative Technology Leader’s toolbox. Is any of the six tools surprising to you?
#InnovativeTechnologyLeader, #stanforduniversity, #innovation, #stanfordgsb, #technology, Stanford University
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Tech Surprises 
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