iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

At the center of every significant innovation is always an idea. Clarence Birdseye's idea about freezing fish revolutionized the food industry and American diets. Charles Schwab's idea about flat commissions changed investing forever. Steve Jobs's idea about creating a device that could hold 1,000 songs in your pocket turned around Apple's fortunes.

Yet we shouldn't confuse a great idea with where it came from. Truly useful ideas don't arise from out of the ether or through fancy techniques like brainstorming or divergent thinking. The best ideas come in response to an important problem and thrive under constraints.

In researching my book, Mapping Innovation, I found that the most innovative firms aren't necessarily any more creative or even better at solving problems than most. Rather, what set them apart was how they aggressively sought out new problems to solve. The truth is that if you want to create a truly innovative culture, it isn't ideas you should glorify, but problems.