How to Think Like a Practical Innovator 

Innovating with speed and agility might be the holy grail for entrepreneurs driven to disrupt the status quo, but the hunt for the most unique, inventive ideas can often be too costly, complex and time consuming. Now more than ever, it is important to realize that innovation comes in countless different shapes and sizes. 

It can come in the form of game-changing technology or emerge as simply a better way to do something. Likewise, redesigning products using more economical materials or changing how you manage business processes can be innovative if it creates greater value for your organization and customers.  

Earlier this Fall, I joined a panel of like-minded thinkers during the Practical Innovator’s Day led by the Chicago Innovation Foundation, a regional organization focused on fostering innovation across all sectors. As long-time supporters, Molex is proud to participate in events held throughout the year, including the Illinois Student Invention Convention, annual Chicago Innovation Awards, and Practical Innovator’s Day, which was held at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. 

As part of this one-day event, five Molex employees were chosen to network with senior Kellogg faculty members and attendees from the top 100 finalists of this year’s Chicago Innovation awards. Joining me on the Practical Innovator’s panel were executives from different industries sharing advice on the top traits of successful innovators, along with how to inspire a culture of innovation. 

One overarching trait for anyone who aspires to be a practical innovator is the ability to inspire others to move quickly and decisively. It may seem counterintuitive to take small yet incremental steps instead of giant leaps forward. Engineers, in particular, are trained to dive deep into problems and devise comprehensive, precise solutions. 

In today’s fast-paced world, however, it is important to consider the balance between inventive ideas and realistic goals. Embracing the art of the possible entails experimentation and continual learning meshed with doable targets for meeting performance and customer expectations. 

There are valuable lessons to be learned from ongoing experimentation and product iterations, especially if you focus on achieving outcomes over completing tasks. This requires a different mental model as well as changes in traditional product development processes. Instead of striving for flawless execution at each stage, it may be more beneficial to balance the creative side with more utilitarian pursuits to ensure end-products yield desired results and are commercially viable and profitable.

Balancing creativity and practicality also requires muscle memory, which is why it is vital to nurture collaborative environments by looking at problems from multiple points of view. For that reason, among others, Molex held its inaugural Innovation Leadership Summit in May 2024, bringing together some of the brightest minds from each of our business divisions for three days of technical talks, leadership workshops, as well as opportunities for networking and team building.

As a global organization with 42,000 employees (including 5,000 engineers), this event generated new levels of knowledge sharing that will help drive innovations across key markets, including transportation, data communications, industrial, medical and consumer industries. The summit also ignited a spark among our engineering community to communicate more freely and frequently. As a result, we are looking for new and productive ways to unite teams worldwide to develop both innovative and practical connectivity solutions for customers.  

Molex was founded in 1938 by Frederick Krehbiel, who developed an industrial plastic byproduct that was used for making flowerpots and children’s toys. Clearly, we experienced a series of pivots from those early days as a maker of moldable thermoplastic to the company’s current position as a leading provider of innovative connectivity solutions. Along the way, company leaders charted a path for Molex’s growth by examining the factors they could control along with the contingencies they could not. 

The ability to pivot and reinvent remains a core strategy at Molex, which is why we continually focus on driving profitable actions that deliver mutually beneficial value creation for employees and customers. This philosophy still holds true today, as reinforced by Koch’s principle-based management framework, which facilitates long-term success by creating superior value for others. To achieve this, it is critical for employees to understand what the company is trying to achieve while being empowered to meet these goals in a principled way.

Typical brainstorming sessions can produce an influx of ideas with different potentials and possibilities. The ability to glean insights is key, especially in figuring out how to make flawed yet interesting ideas better. What you learn during discussions and assessments of your various ideas reveals a lot about how your team collaborates, experiments and solves problems for customers. 

Successful companies put customers at the center of their universe, soliciting regular input and listening carefully to feedback. It does not matter which product or service is provided. What matters most is how you differentiate your products while answering core questions, such as “What problems do we solve?” and “Why should anyone care?” You also must anticipate how best to serve your customers’ long-term needs by aligning plans and product roadmaps.

Practical innovators can keep everyone on the same page by avoiding deviations from the overarching vision while minimizing distractions that impede opportunities to drive mutual benefit. They also are realistic in assessing their strengths and weaknesses, which enables building a team of people with skills that complement their strengths while filling crucial gaps in experience and expertise.

Getting started on any innovation journey can be difficult, which is why I shared my “impact versus effort” matrix when asked for steps practical innovators should take. This simple tool makes it easy to identify and prioritize the most innovative initiatives that require the least effort but yield the most benefit to the organization. In contrast, the matrix also pinpoints ideas that require the most effort but potentially could have the least impact overall. While it is fairly easy to find the home runs and money pits, most new and really innovative ideas fall somewhere in between.

That’s why it is critical to have open dialogue about which steps need to be taken to reduce the effort or elevate the impact of any potential undertaking. This is especially important during major projects, like digital transformation. On one hand, the opportunity to modernize operations using the latest digital tools, including generative AI, digital twins, predictive engineering and simulation, has far-reaching benefits. On the other hand, it is imperative to consider how people will interact with the new technologies while ensuring a better employee and customer experience. One methodis to break down big game-changing ideas into smaller, realistic deliverables people can consume readily and digest easily, as that will build acceptance and drive adoption. After all, innovation can inspire greatness if served with a generous portion of practicality.