We are all descendants of risk-averse ancestors. That, according to my guest this week, Adam Hansen, and his co-authors Edward Harrington and Beth Storz.

What does this nugget mean for you, you ask? Well, these same self-preservation instincts that helped your great, great, great, great, great, great (and so on) grandparents avoid threats and evade danger, no longer serve you in a modern world of innovation.

In the new book Outsmart Your Instincts: How the Behavioral Innovation Approach Drives Your Company Forward, Adam and his colleagues describe our inherent cognitive biases that get in the way of innovation and how to overcome them.

I found the book to be full of compelling case studies and exercises that opened my eyes to new ways of problem solving.

This book will increase your odds of finding new territory to explore. Speaking of which, click the “play” button below to explore some more. 

Join in on our chat below

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In today’s episode, Adam and I discuss:

• What it is about our ancestry that makes it hard for us to naturally innovate
• The power of “pretending” when it comes to innovation
• Plus, we’ll dig into cognitive bias issues like Negative, Availability and Confirmation bias.
• …and a lot more!

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Adam’s Latest Book

You can order your copy of Outsmart Your Instincts: How the Behavioral Innovation Approach Drives Your Company Forward right now.

Books Adam Recommends

If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland

Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age by Edward D. Hess and Katherine Lugwig

Adam’s Resources

The best place to find out more about Adam is at his website.

Here, you can pick up a copy of Adam’s new book.

Find out more about hiring Adam to speak here.

Connect with Adam on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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