Strategic Direction

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to provide an interview with Hal Gregerson, author of The Innovators DNA.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an interview with Hal Gregersen is professor of Leadership at INSEAD, who consults to organizations around the world on innovation, globalization, and transformation and has published extensively in leading academic and business journals. In this interview discusses, The Innovators DNA, a book which emerged from an eight-year collaborative study in which sought to uncover the origins of innovative – and often disruptive – business ideas. The interview is conducted by an independent interviewer.

Findings – Through the book, which Hal co-authored with Jeffrey Dyer and Clayton Christensen, it was discovered that there are five skills that innovators traditionally engage in: questioning to provoke the status quo; observing like an anthropologist; networking for ideas not for careers; experimenting; and associational thinking i.e. connecting the unconnected.

Originality/value – The paper highlights that the great innovators of the world not only think differently, but also act differently.