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Intensive: Innovative Thinking Deconstructed

Most descriptions of innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership focus only on externalities –tasks that must be performed and functions that must be fulfilled. This intensive will shed light on less obvious human aspects of proficiency.

SAB students reading computer screen

Most descriptions of innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership focus only on externalities –tasks that must be performed and functions that must be fulfilled. This intensive will shed light on less obvious human aspects of proficiency.

Innovative Thinking Deconstructed is built around mini-lectures, exercises, demonstrations, and case examples. In particular, it leverages the rich history of leaders, maverick entrepreneurs, designers, movie producers, and jazz musicians who provide a set of rich illustrations with which to deconstruct and re-examine innovative thinking. Simply put, innovative thinking leads to “good” results defined by their value.

This begs the question: What characterizes effective, innovative thinking?

Students will:

  • Gain a deeper, personal understanding of the proficiencies that underly innovative thinking – an umbrella term that has traditionally included entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, leadership, and more.
  • Assess their own capabilities with guidance from new frameworks and case examples that illuminate the inner human landscape of personal proficiency.
  • Enhance their ability to create future value by gaining personal insights from extreme case examples.

Intensive instructor John Kao is a Visiting Fellow at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Yale Ventures entrepreneur in residence, and Trumbull College Fellow. His eclectic experience as a producer, musician, innovation maven, and former Harvard Business School professor is reflected in the intensive design.

Intensive program requirements

  • Commitment to attend all sessions
  • Self-assessment assignments based on an intensive playbook and guide that will be distributed at the beginning of the intensive
  • Optional participation in a collaborative, asynchronous ideation process to be described
  • Optional readings

*The application process for the Innovative Thinking Deconstructed Intensive has ended. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more updates about this and other programs/events happening at Tsai CITY.