Never Too Late To Dare

BursaSnipers

Publish date: Sat, 19 Jan 2019, 02:27 PM

8 With a handful of high-profile millennials becoming tech billionaires, it’s tempting to assume creativity and youth go hand-inhand. But there are no age barriers to innovative thinking.

There’s no single playbook for late-in-life innovative thinking. Some innovators spend decades concocting seemingly crazy ideas and finally hit pay dirt at an advanced age. Others go most of their careers not seeing themselves as particularly creative, only to wake up one day with an inspiring vision.

It’s easier to take risks and pursue bold inventions when you’re young and have less to lose. Still, many people in their 40s and up launch breakthrough businesses or unveil creative concepts. To boost your innovative thinking as you age:

Reframe how others see you. If you’ve repeatedly heard friends and colleagues refer to you a certain way — as a “team player,” “loyal lieutenant” or “doer not a dreamer” — don’t let such labels deaden your innovative spirit. Resist allowing yourself to be pigeonholed.

“Robert Frost, Alfred Hitchcock, Irving Berlin were all seen as hacks early in their career,” said David Galenson, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. “Then they got into their 50s and 60s and got recognized as great innovators.”

Stay in the game. Even if you go many years without trying to innovate, it’s never too late. But you have to keep plugging away at your chosen field and find your work intellectually stimulating.

Late-in-life innovators “get more technically competent and accomplished as they get older,” Galenson said. “They gradually accumulate more information and knowledge, and develop better methods, wisdom and judgment.”

Follow the leaders in innovative thinking. It’s tough to innovate in a vacuum. To stir your creativity, identify visionaries in your area of interest and track what they’re doing.

Proceed by taking two steps, says Jody Holtzman, a senior managing partner at Longevity Venture Advisors in New Rochelle, N.Y. First, find out how these visionaries see the future. Then explore ways that you can ally with them to advance their goals.

“You want to know what their interests are and what their focus and hypothesis is,” Holtzman said. “That forces you to look forward. You can’t look at that and not have your wheels start turning.”

Better yet, contact them and explore ways to contribute to their efforts. Piggybacking on their work can propel your outside-the-box thinking.

Forge connections. Mingling with like-minded people can spark fresh ideas. Spending time with curious, energetic peers who share your passion breeds potentially innovative collaboration.

“Join trade associations and professional associations,” Holtzman said. “Sign up for webinars or online chat rooms. You have to stay current. It’s a challenge (if) your day-to-day life is a time suck.”

Broaden your definition. Resist the urge to equate innovation with college kids developing mobile apps in their dorm rooms. Visionary thinkers can emerge in the most stodgy industries — and even if they are grandparents.

“You don’t have to wear a hoodie, code or live in Silicon Valley to have a profound impact,” said David Shaywitz, a venture capitalist in Palo Alto, Calif. “Innovation is life experience coupled with an inquisitive mind.”

Start small. Some of the most audacious breakthroughs start with a modest experiment. So take the seed of your idea and incrementally test it out. You don’t need to produce earthshaking results at the outset.

“Bring an interrogative perspective to your work,” added Shaywitz, co-host of the “Tech Tonics” podcast. “Insightfully question what you see and ask, ‘How can this task be done differently?’ .

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