I am often asked how to identify the best innovators. People want to know if there are key personality characteristics that determine who will be able to innovate. I agree that it would be great to have a simple test you could give people to figure out who will come up with the most ideas and be able to bring them to fruition.
常常有人問我，如何辨別出色的革新者?他們想知道，決定一個人的創造力大小是否有一些特別的個性特征。我也同意這個想法，如果有一個簡單的測試就能辨別出誰是點子最多還能把它們付諸實踐的人，這是多么方便的一件事。
The science behind innovation, though, tells a much more hopeful story. The best innovators exhibit three core behaviors. The best part about recognizing that innovation is fundamentally about behavior is that behaviors can be changed much more easily than the motivational elements underlying personality characteristics. As a result, anyone can improve his or her ability to innovate by adopting these behaviors.
創造力背后的科學原理，其實更像一個充滿期待的故事。出色的革新者通常都有三個核心表現。辨別革新能力其實最主要在于個人行為的革新，而且其中最值得關注的，就是改變個人行為比改變潛藏于個性特征下的動機要素更容易。因此，每個人都可以采用下面這些行為措施來提高自己的革新能力。
1. Learn widely
1. 廣泛的學習
The best innovators have a base of knowledge that is both broad and deep. They start with an area of expertise that they deeply understand. They have a lot of causal knowledge, meaning that they are good at answering the question, "Why?" particularly in their core area of expertise. They understand both the big picture in that area of work as well as the fine details of how things work. To keep up with developments in their area of expertise, they are constantly learning more by reading, attending lectures, and engaging in discussions with other experts.
出色的革新者都有廣泛而深厚的知識基礎。他們先從自己最熟悉的專業領域著手。他們具備大量的因果知識，也就是說，他們很懂得回答“為什么?”這個問題，在專業的知識領域尤為明顯。他們既能縱觀該任務領域的廣闊藍圖，也熟知事物運轉的細節。為了掌握專業領域的發展趨勢，他們會不斷閱讀，參加講座，參與研討會來豐富知識儲備。
Innovators don't stop with their core expertise, though. They know that the best ideas come from combining their core knowledge with insights that come from other areas. They recognize that drawing analogies from one area to another often provides the basis for new insights. As a result, innovators also explore new intellectual terrain regularly.
不過，革新者不會局限于自己的專業領域里。他們都了解，所有的絕妙點子都需要把自己的專業知識和其他領域的觀點結合起來。他們知道，把一個領域的觀點方法運用到另一個領域里，有助于產生新的見解。所以，革新者們也會常常探索新的領域。
That means innovators seek out the time to learn about new things. It can be difficult to find this time, because the workplace is often busy. Taking the time to develop new areas of competence requires prioritizing learning over other aspects of a job.
這就意味著革新者們會找時間學習新的知識。雖然想要騰出這部分時間不太容易，因為日常工作已經夠忙碌了。所以騰出時間去掌握新技能就需要把學習放在其他工作任務之前了。
If you are trying to identify the best innovators, then you need to look for the most curious people. Who spends their time trying to learn? Who asks the most questions? Who is not satisfied to hear an answer, but really wants to know why that answer is correct?
如果你正在尋找最出色的革新者，那么你就觀察一下誰是最具有好奇心的人。誰愿意花時間去學習?誰最喜歡提問題?誰最不滿意于單純的答案，更想去了解答案成立的原因?
2. Generate a lot of ideas
2. 想出許多新點子
When the time comes to find ways to solve new problems, research on creativity confirms that the people and groups who come up with the best ideas are the ones who come up with the most ideas. The more ideas you develop, the more likely that you will find a great idea.
當人們需要想出解決新問題的方法的時候，有與創造力相關的研究證實了，那些想出最好點子的人們和群體，同時也是想出最多點子的人們。所以如果你能想出越多的點子，你就越有可能發現最好的那個點子。
This means the best innovators also come up with a lot of bad ideas. It is important to realize that, because when you are looking for good innovators, it is tempting to focus on people who had a particularly good idea. You might be tempted to discount the innovation capacity for anyone who has a bad idea.
不過這也意味著，最出色的革新者也會想出許多糟糕的點子。我們有必要清楚這個問題，因為當我們在尋找不錯的革新者的時候，我們很容易關注那些有一個相當好的點子的人身上。那么我們就可能對得出糟糕點子的人的印象大打折扣了。
Anyone can stumble on a good idea once. The people who generate lots of possibilities, though, have a better chance of being serial innovators. When the tendency to generate good ideas is coupled with a wide base of knowledge, then you have two core ingredients for a great innovator.
每個人都會偶爾遇到好的點子。能夠想出多種可能性的人，就會有很大的機會成為持續的革新者。而當產生好點子的趨勢伴隨著廣泛的知識基礎，那么你就發現了出色革新者的兩個重要因素了。
3. Care about the details
3. 注重細節
Creativity is wonderful, of course, but as one of my graduate advisers used to tell me all the time, "Ideas are cheap." That is, having an idea is the easiest part of the process of innovation. The hard part is taking that idea and turning it into something that can be put into practice.
沒錯，創造力是很美妙的，不過我的一位研究生導師以前總是跟我說：“想法很廉價。”也就是說，產生一個想法是革新過程中最容易的部分。而困難的，就在于把這個想法轉變成能夠付諸實踐的東西。
As a result, the details matter a lot. A good innovator takes an idea and then focuses on how it can be implemented. Indeed, innovators spend much more time honing the details of a new project than they do on spouting off ideas.
因此，細節就變得很重要了。一個好的革新者會選擇一個想法，然后投入思考如何才能把它變為現實。確實如此，革新者們都會花相當多的時間去打磨細節，而不會浪費時間耍嘴皮子。
That means innovators have to be willing to commit to identifying the obstacles that will prevent a new idea from succeeding. Then they have to assemble a team that will adapt the idea to the world in which it is going to be used.
因此，革新者們就得花時間去找出那些阻礙新點子成為現實的障礙。然后他們還得召集一個團隊，把點子調整成為符合大眾需要的形式。
Ultimately, when you look for great innovators, you want to find people who care about both the forest and the trees. Innovators need to understand how their innovation fits into a broader ecosystem. At the same time, they need to be concerned about how to bring it into being.
最終，當你想要尋找出色的革新者的時候，你就希望找到那位既能照料整體，也能關注局部的人。每一個革新者都需要了解自己是否能夠融入新的集體。與此同時，他們還要關心如何把這件事落到實處。
Look for people with a keen ability to identify obstacles combined with a positive attitude about overcoming those obstacles. Many people are good at finding reasons why an idea will not work. Most of them use those reasons as an excuse not to proceed. Those people who see the obstacles as a challenge are the ones who have the capacity to go from idea to innovation.
所以，筆者建議您找一位能夠敏銳地識別障礙，又能積極地應對這些障礙的人。許多人都擅長尋找事情不能運轉的原因，但是大部分人就會把這些原因當作他們不作為的借口。而那些能把障礙視為挑戰的人，也就是能把想法轉化為革新力量的人們。