Dr. Amantha Imber, Inventium – InnovaBuzz 215
Dr. Amantha Imber, Inventium
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Dr. Amantha Imber, who is an innovation psychologist, best-selling author, and founder of Australia’s leading innovation consultancy, Inventium. Inventium has been recognised as one of Australia’s fastest-growing companies in the BRW Fast 100 list and was also awarded the BRW Client Choice Award for Best Management Consultancy in Australia. In 2016, Amantha was inducted into the Australian Business Women’s Hall of Fame.
Amantha is the co-creator of the Australian Financial Review’s Most Innovative Companies list, an annual list that Inventium compiles, ranking Australia and New Zealand’s top innovators. Her thoughts have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post, Forbes, and Fast Company and she is the author of two best-selling books: “The Creativity Formula” and “The Innovation Formula”.
In our discussion, Amantha talked to me about:
- The difference between creativity and innovation
- How to develop and sustain a culture of innovation
- Some great tips on innovation and productivity she’s learned from guests on her How I Work podcast
Adam Ashton on episode 187 suggested we interview Amantha.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
It is only when a creative thing is put out into the world that it becomes valuable. @Amantha on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To TweetShow Notes from this episode with Dr. Amantha Imber, Founder of Inventium
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Inventium is an innovation consultancy that helps build the capabilities of people to become innovators. Inventium helps people get better at understanding the biggest opportunities around innovation by giving them the right tools to help them think more creatively and test those ideas leanly, quickly, and cheaply.
- Creativity, as defined by scientists, is novelty plus utility. For something to be creative, it needs to be new and useful. Innovation is creativity implemented.
- It is only when a creative thing is put out into the world that it becomes valuable.
- Creativity is 30% genetically predetermined. 70% is up to us. Your ability to innovate is a competency that can be improved with the right kind of training, tools, stimulus and so forth.
- The amount of challenge that you feel in your job on a day to day basis has a direct impact on your ability and motivation to innovate.
- In order to drive innovation, you need to have a culture that is okay with risk-taking and failure. You need to have a culture where there is a high level of cohesion and where people feel that they are playing on the same team.
- It is important not to trust your gut when thinking about what creates a culture of innovation because what your gut thinks and what science shows are a bit different.
- The more creative you think you are, the more creative you will be. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Prioritising learning over performance has a direct relationship with innovation.
- People who have high openness to new experiences perform more creatively when it comes to solving problems.
- The How I Work Podcast delves deeper into the working days of some of the world’s most successful innovators.
- Deep work is work that requires focus and concentration.
- A podcast gives you a license to have conversations with people that would normally never give you the time of day.
- Podcasting gives you the opportunity to be at the beginning of a learning curve again.
- Innovation does not start with a great idea. It starts with a customer’s frustration. Customers buy solutions to their problems as opposed to some sexy new idea.
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Amantha’s answers to the questions of our Innovation round. Listen to the interview to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Treat it like any other competency on the job that you can learn. Being innovative is a learnable and malleable skill, and just fundamentally understanding it goes a long way.
- Best thing for new ideas – Applying our innovation process at Inventium. Looking out for customer frustrations and unsolved problems out there.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Pocket
- Keep project / client on track – Know what’s going to keep things off track. Diagnose the problem and find a solution.
- Differentiate – Think about what is something unique that you could put into the world.
To Be a Leader
Use your time wisely. Really think about how you are using your time. Think about what is your apparent capacity to do uninterrupted work. When you’re able to use your time wisely, you get so much better stuff done in the world and have more impact.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Amantha through her podcast, website and on Twitter.
Suggested Guest
Amantha suggested I interview Lin Manuel Miranda, creator of the musical, Hamilton. So Lin, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Dr. Amantha Imber.
Links
Books
Cool things about Amantha
- She had an international record deal for her debut album Like Samantha without the S.
- She’s a huge fan of Lin Manuel Miranda.
- She plays table tennis.