Mindset vs. Skill Set

Which one is more important for aspiring innovators?

A few years ago, as one of my favorite clients introduced me to a group 41 movers and shakers attending one of my leadership development workshops, she told them what they were going to learn from me that day:

Innovation skills.

Yes, it was true. I was going to help these future business leaders learn skills that would help them innovate, but that was only half of the story. Actually, less than half. Much less.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past 35 years of working as an innovation provocateur for more than 150 organizations worldwide, it’s this:

Mindset — not skill set — is the name of the game in business these days.

When a person’s mindset (i.e. attitude, receptivity, curiosity, focus) is in the right place, skill set becomes secondary.

Is acquiring new skills useful? Of course it is. If you’re about to have surgery, you want to know the doctor with the scalpel in their hands knows what they’re doing.

But all the skills in the world become useless if the mind of the physician is cloudy.