The Ten Faces of Innovation

by Tom Kelley

The Book
The Ten Faces
Tom Kelley
IDEO
Reader Stories
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  • Anthropologist
  • Experimenter
  • Cross-Pollinator
  • Hurdler
  • Collaborator
  • Director
  • Experience Architect
  • Set Designer
  • Storyteller
  • Caregiver
  • Devil’s Advocate
  • Other/Not Sure
The Hurdler

The Hurdler is a tireless problem-solver who gets a charge out of tackling something that’s never been done before. When confronted with a challenge, the Hurdler gracefully sidesteps the obstacle while maintaining a quiet, positive determination. This optimism and perseverance can help big ideas upend the status quo as well as turn setbacks into an organization’s greatest successes–despite doomsday forecasting by shortsighted experts.

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One thought on “The Hurdler”

  1. Nilam Doctor 4.29.2006 at 12:44 pm

    It happened last year, my clients in US had a typical problem. Time was critical. Solution was not in near sight. They were not able to assign the work to me too… I was overloaded with work. I took a challange without the permission of the CEO, tried a few patches in the code which needed Ajax. Uploaded the code. They did not realize my changes initially. It worked some how! CEO called a meeting and wanted to know the possibilities of better performance. I explained, ruled out by a senior programmer, his suggeset to provide more XML routines. Soon the solution emerged out.

    To everyone’s surprise it was completed, ahead of time. If I had not persisted, it would have taken more time.

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