The Fourth Face of Innovation: The Hurdler
This is part of a multi-part series about the book The Ten Faces of Innovation written by Tom Kelley. You can read the other parts in this series here, here, here, and here.
In high school for the track and field team, I competed in the 60-meters hurdles. In the final competition, I squeaked by to the final heat but finished a disappointing 6th. Sixth place deserves a solid “Good job” from the coach, a (maybe) sincere “we’re so proud of you” from my mom, and a trip to the ice cream shop, but that’s about where it ends. No picture in the city or school newspaper, no medal or ribbon to hang on my shelf, and no real attention in the eyes of that girl I was trying to impress. It was a good experience, it kept me active, but it was also humbling. I don’t brag about my performance, I don’t put it on my resume, and I don’t think I’ve told anyone this story for at least 10 years. Perhaps we all have something like that.
But since then, I’ve learned that hurdling, especially as an abstract principle, is an important skill to develop in design, in work, and in life.
Tom Kelley describes the fourth face of innovation as “the Hurdler.” You likely know that the idea in hurdling (the sport) is to not hit or touch the hurdle so that one can run and progress faster to the finish line. In other words, the athlete seeks to not hit the obstacle head-on and tries to find a way around the obstacle or, in the particular event rules, over it. Olympic athletes become so proficient at hurdling that it can sometimes appear as if those obstacles aren't really there. Their times are amazingly just a few seconds slower than the sprinters over the same distances.
This is what Hurdlers do in general. They find a way around a problem, an obstacle, or a barrier and often quickly and creatively. It might be that a feasible solution is straight through the obstacle by applying brute force, but this will clearly cause some collateral damage, slow down progress, and potentially hurt others nearby. Hurdlers are able to see things in a new way, similar to Cross-Pollinators, but are also not afraid to take risks and jump high and far if necessary to overcome a hardship. Hurdlers aren’t always rule breakers, but they will find the loopholes and novel techniques to get over a stumbling block. Most people can exhibit a portion of this type of behavior when in a crunch. Desperation is frequently the mother of innovation and we often take on the face of a Hurdler when we need some innovation desperately!
Kelley illustrates that Hurdlers are always willing to take lemons and make lemonade. They thrive in the tight budgets, the time constraints, and the impossible odds. They’ll work long hours, focus on the task, and won’t give up even when others already have. They are known for turning obstacles into opportunities.
A poignant example is when Toyota was just introducing the Lexus brand to the United States. One of the earliest car models had a serious flaw that had the potential to destroy their brand name recognition before they even started. However, they turned this obstacle into an opportunity. At extreme cost, they personally contacted every Lexus owner and then sent out a technician or mechanic to diagnose the problem and fix the car, if necessary, right on the spot. The Toyota technicians would also clean the car and leave it in a better condition overall. Instead of a problem with probable bad media coverage and eventual lost revenue, they made their customers even happier with better service and increased brand loyalty. How many of us can say we’ve had our auto-mechanic volunteer to come to our own home and look at our cars? Probably not many. Toyota’s lemons became very profitable lemonade.
Another example is of Richard Drew, the designer of masking tape and Scotch tape. Kelley describes Drew’s first obstacle as doing something he wasn’t paid for: He was initially just a junior lab technician and also responsible for the delivery of sandpaper to local body shops. But he talked to customers and listened, and then experimented by himself outside of his job’s purview to meet the needs of these customers. His second obstacle was continuing his experiments when his company, 3M, wanted him to go back to developing sandpaper instead of messing around with experiments of adhesives. He even purchased an expensive paper-making machine under the radar, by leveraging his authorized purchasing approval level of $100, in many installments. Within this attitude of determination and resilience, masking tape was developed. His third obstacle was sticking to the task (pun intended) of making his tape prototypes see-through and waterproof. Despite obvious setbacks related to the Great Depression, he persevered and invented Scotch tape. During the depression, people used this tape for holding precious cracked eggs together, extending the life of books by taping pages, and fixing toys that weren’t going to be thrown away in the 1930s. His habit of hurdling over and around challenges, internal and external to his company, paid off and today most people will struggle to name a company that produces masking tape, Scotch tape, and Post-Its notes other than 3M.
A third example of a Hurdler, is the food company Cargill. They were struggling with the condition of insufficient currency in the financial disaster of Zimbabwe after extreme inflation had caused the country’s monetary system to approach total collapse. There was simply not enough money to pay the farmers for their crops. Eventually, Cargill printed their own type of “currency” to get around this major problem. These “fixed denomination bearer checks” became the method for cash transactions in the area and allowed businesses, wholesalers, and retailers to continue operating and for farmers to be paid. A corporation printing its own currency is indeed a unique approach, but it successfully hurdled the obstacle and benefited many.
Kelly concludes his discussion of Hurdlers with this: “Ignore the experts and sometimes the walls in front of you will turn out to have doors.” Occasionally, I have people ask me for advice who consider me a type of expert. Although I might have learned or read something they haven’t, have been exposed to some additional data, or have experience qualifying me to have a special vantage point, I sometimes hope they’ll disregard my opinion and prove me wrong if I discouraged something initially. Even if I’m right and some idea was indeed found to be infeasible, the other person’s tenacity as a Hurdler for finding a way, despite what others say, will be useful down the road for when they have their next idea. Experts can indeed be wrong, and thus sometimes Hurdlers will ignore the experts and keep trying regardless. The Hurdlers are often found to be right in the end.
Interestingly, most progression does come from individuals standing up for what they believe or really want and therefore must go against the trend, cut against the grain, and act against the status quo. Dissenters and Hurdlers really are perhaps the only people who write history. They hurdle over every obstacle that comes down their way even if it takes weeks, years, or generations to overcome. We are all the beneficiaries of Hurdlers, in design, in innovation, and in society. May we be Hurdlers as well.
