SW 170 - Jeff DeGraff - Making Stone Soup: How to Jumpstart Innovation Teams

Jeff DeGraff joins the show today with Jason Hartman. DeGraff is a professor for the University of Michigan's Ross Business school and has worked extensively in teaching innovation. Today, he joins the show to talk a little bit about his new book called, “Making Stone Soup: How to Jumpstart Innovation Teams” and how it can help you succeed in your business venture.    Key Takeaways:  1:35 – Companies are struggling with innovation on a team level and his new book, Making Stone Soup, talks about some of these challenges and how they can over come it.  4:25 – When you look at the history of innovation, most of these come from conflicting ideas or completely new hybrid ideas to try and make something better.  7:15 – Forget the 80/20 rule. Innovation uses the 20/80 rule.  11:25 – When you look at the patent timeline, it is more incremental than ever before. Jason asks, “Is it because everything has already been invented?”  15:00 – Remember, you're catering to a completely new generation. Millennials experience the world in a completely different way now.  20:00 –  DeGraff breaks down the four important elements that make innovation happen.  23:00 – Tip: Focus on something that works. Do not focus on trying to fix something that's broken.  27:00 – You can not start something new unless you give up something you're currently doing. We simply can't do it all at once.    28:15 – As you are trying to build or invent something for the first time, remember that you need multiple versions of it before you can truly succeed.