On innovation coaches

At it's core, coaching innovation teams is about helping them: (1) ask better questions, and then (2) answer them better. Innovator's job is transforming an idea into a thriving business.

That's a journey rife with uncertainty, setbacks, and disappointments. It's also an exhilarating one, with many opportunities for personal growth.

As a martial artist of over 20 years, I've met a fair number of instructors whom I wouldn't let water my plants, let alone teach me (or anybody for that matter).

When parents ask me to recommend a martial art for their child, I tell them to pick the teacher, not art. All great martial arts share the same principles, and it is the instructor who is the differentiator.

Would you want to learn throws from someone who never threw? Or self-defence from someone who was never punched? Those that have walked the path have the most to teach.

Any respectable innovation coach should have deep knowledge of various methods (and their respective bodies of knowledge!), sound business acumen (you want to do "business model innovation," but you can't understand basic business practices?), and first-hand experience with taking something from zero to one, and ideally, beyond that as well.

Martial arts instructors that teach fake arts and run McDojos are dangerous to themselves and their students. Delusional innovation coaches are dangerous only to their clients.