According to a recent Forbes study of the world's most innovative companies, the leaders of these organizations—including Fabrizio Freda of Estee Lauder, S.D. Shibulal of Infosys and Jeff Bezos of Amazon—have five "discovery skills" that keep them engaged:

They ask provocative questions. Continuously asking "why?" is the hallmark of a curious five-year-old, an investigative reporter and a successful business person.
They observe the world "like anthropologists to detect new ways of doing things." Personally, I'd reverse the order of the first two traits because the more you learn about something, the more questions will come up. And I love the qualification here of observing the workings of the world not as some self-proclaimed expert or insider, but as an anthropologist–weighing, comparing, analyzing and keeping an open mind.
They network "with people who don't look or think like them." This is huge, IMHO. Imagine for a minute if everyone, not just business executives, took the time to do this. Instead of preaching to the proverbial choir, we'd actually be engaging in civil discourse. What a concept.
They experiment with new ideas and experiences. Experiments often fail. But no great invention was created without them. Real leaders can't be afraid to fall on their faces sometimes.
And then they use these behaviors to trigger new associations, which help them connect the unconnected—and produce disruptive ideas. I just love this. Creative writers who are stuck with a plot point that doesn't work or plain-and-simple writer's block are encouraged to "put a bear in the boat"–that is, introduce a wildly unexpected element to whatever isn't working to jog some real creative thinking. If it works in the fictional world, it can work in the real one.

Add up all these elements and you have a recipe for leaders who are creative, confident and supported enough to look beyond what currently works to see what could work even better. This is especially important in a world that's changing as quickly as ours.

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