Tuesday, March 09, 2010

What distinguishes innovators

The key qualities that separate great leaders from not-so-great ones can be developed...
That is according to researchers from BYU and Harvard Business School, who surveyed 500 innovative company founders (including Pierre Omidyar, Michael Dell, and Jeff Bezos) as well as 3,000 execs who had not launched a business or invented a product.  There are many interesting findings, but one stands out:

One key characteristic among the visionaries? The tendency to ask questions -- a lot of them -- and to challenge the status quo -- plenty.
Here is an article reporting on the study.  (Thanks to @chuckfrey for the tip.)