--- title: Creativity: The 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators description: Creativity can be developed canonical: https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-05T11:00:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:30.359Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators og:description: Creativity can be developed og:url: https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c31c6e6c10897ab/69885d15f887dc7877e919bb/people-raising-hands.jpg?branch=production&width=478&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 478 og:image:height: 269 og:image:alt: people-raising-hands og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators twitter:description: Creativity can be developed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c31c6e6c10897ab/69885d15f887dc7877e919bb/people-raising-hands.jpg?branch=production&width=478&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Kira Orange Jones on the Future of Innovation [Watch (HLS stream): Kira Orange Jones on the Future of Innovation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xPzskySs.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2015-07-14. The Teach for America executive talks innovation and challenges in the classroom_ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Aug 5, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Crowd of People Raising Their Hands Crowd of People Raising Their Hands Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Aug 5, 2015 11:00 AM UTC In [The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=1422134814&asin-it=1422134814&asin-fr=1422134814&asin-de=1422134814&asin-uk=1422134814&asin-ca=1422134814&asin-com=1422134814), authors Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen uncover the origins of “innovative-and often disruptive-business ideas.” --- > “” --- The [ability to look at problems](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/09/the-remarkable-ways-we-gain-insights/) in [a non-standard way](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/09/a-technique-for-producing-ideas/) might be the most sought after competency of the future. Most of us believe that the ability to think creatively is genetic. It’s not. --- > “” --- Behaviors drive innovation. --- > “” --- **The five skills of disruptive innovators are:** 1. **Associating**: Innovators associate ideas that are previously unconnected either to solve problems or create something new. This is [how Gutenberg created the printing press](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2012/11/gutenbergs-printing-press/). When forming teams, keep cross-pollination of experiences and perspectives in mind. But you also need the glue. You need someone in the room with loose associations who can pull ideas together. 2. **Questioning**: Innovators ask a ton of questions. In fact, they treat the world as a question. Managers ask ‘how’ questions — how are we going to speed that up, how are we going to stop this from happening. Innovators ask ‘why.’ They are the kid at the back of the class the teacher hates (and often, the person in the meeting the manager hates.) Not only does this [help you filter bullshit](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/10/filtering-nonsense/), but it helps jolt people from the status quo. 3. **Observing**: You can’t learn if you don’t observe. You need to always be observing. This [mindfulness is what allowed Sherlock Holmes](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/04/how-to-think-like-sherlock-holmes/) to solve cases. 4. **Networking**: Talking to people is a great source of ideas. People offer different perspectives. They may have just failed at something but you may be able to apply the same idea to a different problem. You need to be open to these perspectives, even if you just file them away for another day. (see #1) 5. **Experimenting**: If the world is their question it is also their lab. Fail often. Fail fast. Fail Cheap. Try again. Never give up. You can see how these are somewhat synergistic. They all fit together, each one making the other parts stronger. If you can only pick two focus on asking questions and networking. [The Innovator’s DNA](http://a-fwd.com/es=farstrblo068-21&it=farstrblo0a-21&fr=farstrblo08-21&de=farstrblo07-21&uk=farstrblo-21&ca=farst-20&com=farnamstreet-20&asin-es=1422134814&asin-it=1422134814&asin-fr=1422134814&asin-de=1422134814&asin-uk=1422134814&asin-ca=1422134814&asin-com=1422134814) is fascinating throughout. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/05/taleb-history/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/"},"headline":"The 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators","datePublished":"2015-08-05T11:00:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:30.359Z","description":"Creativity can be developed","url":"https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/","keywords":["Innovation","Psychology","Creativity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c31c6e6c10897ab/69885d15f887dc7877e919bb/people-raising-hands.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c31c6e6c10897ab/69885d15f887dc7877e919bb/people-raising-hands.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"people-raising-hands","caption":"people-raising-hands","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/","name":"The 5 Skills of Disruptive Innovators"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kira Orange Jones on the Future of Innovation","description":"The Teach for America executive talks innovation and challenges in the classroom","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xPzskySs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-14T18:29:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xPzskySs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3977239/disruptive-innovators-skills/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```