The Seven Habits Of Innovative People

Albert and Fred seem to have their paths intertwined.

They came from the same hometown. They both came from good and loving parents. They both went to the same school from elementary to college. Both of them graduated with high honours from a prestigious business university. Fred graduated top of the class; Albert was a close second.

And yet, ten years into their careers, their outcomes are strikingly different. Fred has founded two successful companies and is widely regarded as a creative thinker and problem-solver in his industry. Albert is competent, respected, and reliable — but has not created anything new in years.

What accounts for the gap? The answer, in large part, comes down to habits. Specifically, the habits of innovative people.

Why Habits Matter for Innovation

Innovation is not a spontaneous event that happens to lucky or naturally creative people. It is the product of consistent behaviours — ways of engaging with the world, processing information, and responding to challenges — that, practised over time, produce creative output as a natural consequence.

The good news is that habits are learnable. The seven habits below are not personality traits you either have or don't — they are practices you can develop.

The Seven Habits of Innovative People

1. Curiosity. Innovative people ask questions others stop asking. They maintain a child-like wonder about how things work, why they are the way they are, and how they could be different. Curiosity is the engine of innovation — without it, the other habits have nowhere to go.

2. Cross-domain thinking. Innovation often happens at the intersection of ideas from different fields. Innovative people read widely, talk to people outside their domain, and deliberately seek connections between seemingly unrelated concepts. The most original solutions frequently come from applying an idea from one context to a problem in another.

3. Tolerance for ambiguity. Creative problems rarely come with clear parameters or obvious solutions. Innovative people are comfortable sitting with uncertainty — with not knowing the answer yet — without prematurely forcing closure. This tolerance for ambiguity is what allows genuinely novel solutions to emerge.

4. Bias for action and experimentation. Innovative people do not just generate ideas — they test them. They treat experiments as learning opportunities rather than pass/fail assessments, which means they are willing to try things that might not work and extract value from the attempt regardless of the outcome.

5. Collaborative orientation. Despite the romantic image of the lone genius, most significant innovation is deeply collaborative. Innovative people actively seek other perspectives, are genuinely open to having their thinking challenged, and build on the ideas of others generously.

6. Reflective practice. Innovation requires both divergent thinking (generating possibilities) and convergent thinking (evaluating and refining them). Innovative people invest time in reflection — reviewing what they have tried, what they have learned, and how their thinking is developing over time.

7. Resilience in the face of failure. Most innovative ideas fail — or require significant revision — before they succeed. The habit that makes sustained innovation possible is the ability to treat failure as feedback rather than verdict, and to keep going with curiosity rather than discouragement.

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At People Builders, we help individuals and organisations develop the capabilities that support genuine innovation and creative problem-solving. Contact us today for a quick chat.