Since SAS is known as an innovative company, I jumped at the chance to hear advice from five SAS leaders on how to be more innovative. The following tips come from a recent panel discussion at SAS titled, “What does innovation look like to you?”

1. Innovation is about solving problems, said Jon Weisz, JMP Sales and Marketing Senior Director. It’s about constantly finding ways to improve something, whether that means improving a product or simply improving a process to make it more efficient. Just because you’ve always done something a certain way doesn’t mean that it can’t be improved. If you see something that can be fixed, fix it. You don’t need to start something from scratch in order to be original and make a difference.  
2. Write down your ideas. We don’t even realize how many ideas we come up with every day because we forget them before we can act on them. Claire Cates, R&D Software Developer , said one of the most important things to do to be innovative is to carry a pen and paper with you wherever you go so you can jot down any idea when it strikes. When you accumulate enough ideas, at least one of them is bound to be worth pursuing.
3. Don’t be afraid of failure. Innovation requires the freedom to experiment, knowing that there will be some failures before success.
4. Many times, the best ideas come from where you least expect it. Expose yourself to different disciplines and backgrounds to spark innovation. Cheryl Doninger, Senior Director in R&D, says to interact with other groups in your organization, keeping their perspectives in mind as you approach your own problems in work.
5. Be a pain. Keith Collins, SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, shared his own advice for being innovative: “If you really care about innovation,” he said, “you will be a pain in the butt.” Bring your biggest irritant closest to you and capture the ideas that he or she is most passionate about.
6. The difference between invention and innovation is idea versus adoption. To achieve adoption of your idea, you must push through the entire process. Innovation isn’t just coming up with an idea - it’s putting that idea in the right place, explained Radhika Kulkarni, Vice President of Advanced Analytics R&D. However, just because an idea doesn’t work in a certain situation doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea. Be open to putting your idea on the backburner until the time is right.
7. Passion is key. When you care about your work, you are bound to succeed. If you’re passionate about what you do, then innovation will come naturally as you strive to excel.  

Overall, the discussion made me realize how important innovation is for everything one does in life; routine may be comfortable, but I’ll never grow if I don’t take risks and always look for ways to improve my work.