Cultivating an Innovative Organization

Cultivating an Innovative Organization

The Power of Resilience in Leadership

Pat Christen, President & CEO, HopeLab

Hawai‘i Leadership ForumNovember 12, 2013 / Honolulu

What spurs innovation?

What spurs innovation?

• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance

What spurs innovation?

• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance

Curiosity

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”– Albert Einstein

Bette GrahamBad typst typist and inventor of Liquid PaperCuriosity

Curiosity

Mary AndersonKeen observer of streetcar operations,

inventor of the windshield wiper

What spurs innovation?

• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance

“I failed my way to success.” - Thomas Edison,

failure expert, inventorWillingness to fail & learn

Willingness to fail & learn

Tablet devicesMore than 20 years of flops before the iPad

iPad

Willingness to fail & learn Julia ChildChef, author, TV host, lifelong experimenter of culinary arts

What spurs innovation?

• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance

FutureCube brainstormHopeLab R&D team at MLOVE

Lots of ideas

Lots of ideas

Julie TaymorGroundbreaking theater and film director

Lots of ideas

Thomas JeffersonPioneering politician, philosopher, farmer and inventor

Lots of ideas

Leonardo da Vinci13,000 pages of notes on art, anatomy and engineering

What spurs innovation?

• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance

Diana NyadSuccessful 5th attempt to swim Cuba to Florida

Perseverance

Apollo 13 Moon MissionSuccessfully returned to Earth after disaster in space

Perseverance

J.K. RowlingWrote her first book while living out of her car,

more than 400 million books sold to date

Perseverance

Harriett “Moses” TubmanAbolitionist, Union spy, suffragette

Perseverance

How do we buildour capacity for

curiosity,failure and learning,

ideationand perseverance?

We each have a superpower.

Resilience noun. The ability to bounce back from adversity.

Resilience =

PurposeConnection

Control Capt. “Sully” SullenbergerHudson River crash landing, 2009

Purpose

A far-reaching steady goal; something personally

meaningful that reaches out into the world.

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear with almost any ‘how.’” – Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Purpose

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” – Abraham Lincoln

Purpose

Connection

Authentic relationship with others,

a sense of belonging, the opposite of loneliness.

Connection

“Although we like to think of ourselves as mythic individualists, we are fundamentally social organisms.”

– John Cacioppo, social neuroscientist

Connection“You have – within you – the fuel to thrive and to flourish, and to leave this world in better shape than you found it. You tap into it whenever you feel connected to others and loved.”

– Barbara Fredrickson, social psychologist

Control

Our belief in our power to affect our destinies, the engine

of motivation.

Malala YousafzaiStudent and girls’ rights activist, survivor of Taliban assassination attempt

Control

Aron RalstonOutdoorsmanControl

Derek RedmondOlympic sprinterView footage on YouTube

What is your unique role

as a leader in cultivating resilience?

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create

the experience of belonging in all the places where

people come together to get something done – our

meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes, all

those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and

decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”

– Peter Block

What is belonging?Longing to be – to find our deeper purpose

“‘Being’ is to find our deeper purpose in all that we do.”

To be related and to be part of something “To belong is to know, even in the middle of the night, that I am among friends.”

A sense of being an owner “What I consider mine I will build and nurture.”

Belonging supports resilience

Resilience – the ability to bounce back from

adversity, injury or insult – is cultivated through a sense of:PURPOSE

CONNECTION

CONTROL

Cultivating belongingLonging to be – to find our deeper purpose

“‘Being’ is to find our deeper purpose in all that we do.”

To be related and to be part of something “To belong is to know, even in the middle of the night, that I am among friends.”

A sense of being an owner “What I consider mine I will build and nurture.”

PURPOSE

CONNECTION

CONTROL

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural

ways to create the experience of belonging in

all the places where people come together to get something

done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning

processes, all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect

on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”

– Peter Block

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the

experience of belonging in all the places where people

come together to get something done – our

meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning

processes, all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect

on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”

– Peter Block

“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”

“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”

“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”

“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”

“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the

experience of belonging in all the places where people come

together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues,

conferences, planning processes, all those gatherings

where we assemble to reflect on and decide

the kind of future we want for ourselves.”

– Peter Block

“… all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”

“… all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”

“… all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”

Warning!

Warning!

You can be innovative, resilient and create belonging – and be a terrorist, cult leader or virus.

Warning!

You can be innovative, resilient and create belonging – and be a terrorist, cult leader or virus.

Compassion

Recognizing suffering in others and

acting to alleviate that suffering.

Integrity

Keeping the promises you make

to yourself and others.

Innovative, generative leaders cultivate

resilience, create a sense of belonging

and act with compassion and

integrity.

This is not easy.

Two case studies for your considertation …

This is not easy.

Two case studies for your consideration …

Case Study #1

Hancock Bank

Hurricane Katrina, 2005

Hancock Bank

Hurricane Katrina, 200590 of 103 Hancock branches destroyed

No electricity, no computersNo account data

Hancock Bank: Back to PurposeCompany Values

• Honor & Integrity• Strength & Stability• Commitment to Service• Teamwork• Personal Responsibility

Hancock Bank: Back to Purpose

From ATMs to Card Tables

• Sign your name• Give your address• Give your SS#• Get $200

$42 Million$42 million given outAll but $200K returned13K new accounts in 5 months

Case Study #2

Re-MissionGames for young cancer patients, from HopeLab

Designing tech to unlock resilience

Re-MissionGames for young cancer patients, from HopeLab

Re-MissionBoosts players’ sense of control, shifts attitudes, boosts positive emotion and improves health behavior

Re-MissionMore than 250,000 games in 82 countries

Victory!

To recap ……

Resilience is key to innovation.

Resilience enhances a sense of belonging – a key attribute cultivated by great leaders.

Resilience nurtured with integrity and compassion is an unstoppable force for good.

Resilience is key to innovation.

Resilience enhances a sense of belonging, a key attribute cultivated by great leaders.

Resilience nurtured with integrity and compassion is an unstoppable force for good.

Resilience is key to innovation.

Resilience is enhanced by a sense of belonging, a key attribute cultivated by great leaders.

Resilience nurtured with compassion and integrityis an unstoppable force for good.

If you cultivate resilience with compassion and integrity,

you will transform the world.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy… I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

― Martin Luther King, Jr.

Resilience is your superpower.

Time to put on your cape.

Mahalo.Pat Christen, President & CEO, HopeLab