I asked 10 +1 Questions on Innovation to Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL AB.
\nSee his reply below.<\/p>\n
10 +1 Questions On Innovation to: Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL AB. <\/strong><\/p>\n M\u00e5rten Mickos joined MySQL AB as CEO in 2001. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a start-up to the second-largest open source company and the fastest-growing database vendor in the world. Prior to MySQL, Mickos held multi-national CEO and senior executive positions in his native Finland. He holds a M.Sc. in technical physics from Helsinki University of Technology.<\/p>\n 1. What is “Innovation” for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n Some new thing or way of doing things that brings economical 2. Who are your favorite innovators? <\/strong><\/p>\n I admire IKEA for innovating the production and distribution process, Apple for innovating usability (mostly from existing 3. What do you consider are the most promising innovations of the last 3 years? <\/strong><\/p>\n I don’t make such assessments! I’d rather spend time helping innovators than assessing them. I follow Wayne Gretzky’s principle that “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” 4. What does it help to become a successful innovator? <\/strong><\/p>\n Curiosity. A meticulous ability to make observations. A desire to contribute. An ability to let go of old thoughts. 5. Is there a price to pay to be an innovator? Which one? <\/strong><\/p>\n Every passion has its price. Most innovators never hit a home run. But all innovators have to give up something else (mostly time).<\/p>\n 6. What are the rewards to be an innovator? <\/strong><\/p>\n I am not an innovator myself, but I believe that the best reward an 7. What are in your opinion the top 3 criteria for successful innovation? <\/strong><\/p>\n Frugality, combination, meticulousness.<\/p>\n 8. What would you recommend to young people who wish to pursue innovation? <\/strong><\/p>\n To start innovating in their everyday life, and to not give up even if it takes years to develop the ability to see new solutions and make them happen.<\/p>\n 9. In your opinion how can we create a culture that supports and sustains innovation? <\/strong><\/p>\n By making heroes of the innovators.<\/p>\n 10. What do you think stops\/slows down innovation? <\/strong><\/p>\n I believe that the propensity to innovate is fairly stable across the world and over time. But there also needs to be a full set of supporting functions (investors, sales channels, labour market, etc.) and those we can influence. 10+1 .Do you think becoming an innovator can be taught? If yes, how? <\/strong><\/p>\n I believe there is an amount of passion needed that you cannot teach. Also, I think you can teach the techniques of innovation, as well as the skills you will need to bring the innovation to commercial success.<\/p>\n Hope this is useful!<\/p>\n \/\/\/mgm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I asked 10 +1 Questions on Innovation to Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL AB. See his reply below. 10 +1 Questions On Innovation to: Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL AB. M\u00e5rten Mickos joined MySQL AB as CEO in 2001. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a start-up to the second-largest open source company and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[362,440],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odbms.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nvalue to a customer.<\/p>\n
\ncomponents), and the free and open source software movement for having innovated a great new way to produce and distribute software.<\/p>\n
\nSo I think we should try to get more innovations done, not try to find the top 3. The markets will pass their judgment on the innovations anyhow.<\/p>\n
\nPerseverance.<\/p>\n
\ninnovator can get is to see his or her innovation in productive use.<\/p>\n
\nFor instance, I am not sure Silicon Valley is any more innovative on a base level than any other place, but Silicon Valley has all the functions that you need to make an innovation come true.<\/p>\n
\nBut I think you can wake up a dormant passion for innovation by exposing young people to successful innovators.
\nThis is the principle of “hanging out and drinking beer with Nobel laureates”. It is extremely stimulating.<\/p>\n