From Chaos to Creativity: An Insider's Look with the Dean of Innovation and University of Michigan Professor Jeff DeGraff
With the Covid vaccine, the entire planet has just had front row seats to innovation of massive importance, urgency, and scale. What looked like chaos has resulted in crunching the vaccine cycle time from 10 years to 10 months. So how did it happen? And what are the factors the lead to creative and innovative leaps? How can innovation occur in daily life? Jeff DeGraff is the person who knows.
Jeff is a Professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He teaches courses on leading creativity, innovation, and change. Jeff’s research and writing focuses on innovation strategy, change and innovation competency development, creativity and innovation practices and methods, create communities and innovation networks, and leadership development.
He is an author or co-author of the books Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict, Innovation You, Creativity at Work: Developing the Right Practices to Make Innovation Happen, Leading Innovation: How to Jumpstart Your Company’s Growth Engine, and Competing Values Leadership: Creating Value in Organizations. His book, Making Stone Soup, was a finalist for several book awards. In his newest book, The Creative Mindset, he argues it’s time to rethink the way we make innovation happen. Innovation doesn’t come from an algorithm; it comes from the personal creativity of individuals. And creativity is not a gift for the chosen few—it is a process that can be learned.
Jeff’s mission is “the democratization of innovation.” He brings innovation to everyone, every day and everywhere through his books, his public television program (Innovation You), columns (Inc.) and radio program (The Next Idea).
In this episode of What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw, Jeff talks about innovation accelerators and obstacles, the importance of the failure cycle, and the geography of genius.
Jeff’s articles and thought leadership on contemporary business matters have been covered by Business Week, US News and World Report, and the Wall Street Journal, to name a few.
His client list reads like a ‘who’s who’ within the world of innovators, including, among many others, American Express, Bloomberg, Coca Cola, CVS, FedEx, General Electric, Google, Johnson & Johnson, P&G, Pfizer, Toyota, and Visa. In working with these prominent firms, he has developed a broad array of widely used change and innovation methodologies and tools. Jeff was a member of the executive team at Domino’s Pizza when it was one of the fastest growing businesses in the world in the 1980’s. Jeff’s creative and direct take on making innovation happen have made him a world-renowned thought leader and have prompted his clients and colleagues to dub him as “The Dean of Innovation.”
Jeff is a Managing Partner of Innovatrium, an innovation center and consulting practice that specializes in teaching companies how to grow and become more innovative. He serves as an advisor to think tanks and governments. Jeff has worked all over the world, with significant experience in Europe and Asia, and in most industry and market segments.
What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw...
Life and career rarely go to plan. Breakthroughs happen on the ragged edge when things aren't quite going as expected. What I Wish I Knew podcast hosts Mike Irwin and Simon Daw explore lessons learned by leading athletes, creators, entrepreneurs, leaders, and difference makers. They all have three things in common: none are perfect, all are humble, and they've learned a few things along the way. In What I Wish I Knew, they share their lessons with you.
Connect with Jeff DeGraff:
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Video Highlights: Innovation Expert Professor Jeff DeGraff
“We learn by accelerating the failure cycle not avoiding it.” - Jeff DeGraff
Jeff DeGraff on Why Innovation Happens in a Crisis
Jeff DeGraff: From chaos to the Covid vaccine