Sensazione is the continual refinement of the senses, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.

After another mind clearing Sunday of wandering the National Gallery I picked up Michael J. Gelb’s, book How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, and had to smile when I discovered that Gelb is a creativity and innovation expert whose writing inspires both the innovator and everyday individuals looking to disrupt their own thinking. Ironically, it was Gelb that helped me to connect the dots on the success and growth of HeartMath LLC, a company which understood its creative potential from the very beginning.

After my interview with innovator Bruce Cryer, a founding member and Global Director of HeartMath, I am certain that the concept of sensazione and understanding how to leverage time were two key ingredients to their success. Cryer explains that they started with a simple concept “when your heart is involved in what you do, things go better.” I’ll borrow a quote from author, Cathryn Hrudicka who says that creativity is the, “synthesis of ideas and that we must have a vision or an intuition of a place to go, new products, innovations and business models.” What steps did HeartMath take to make it to the global market from having a great idea? Designing a product around a new understanding of how the heart and brain talk to each other is not so simple.

A Creative Team
Cryer describes that in 1991, Doc Childre intentionally put together a founding team with backgrounds from science, business, education, art and music to design a product that would help consumers learn to transform stress. One question that was always raised during development meetings was, “how will the customer respond to this idea?” HeartMath’s objective was to make the technology enjoyable for consumers as they learned about controlling stress. Cryer recognized early on that Steve Jobs always intrigued and inspired consumers and HeartMath did not keep the Jobs philosophy in the abstract. Had they a looking glass, they would have seen that their product would eventually be featured in a number of scientific peer-reviewed journals, the NBC Today Show, ABC World News Tonight, CBS’ The Early Show, CNN’s Headline News, Discover.com, and win the People’s Choice Competition for the Last Gadget Standing Award at CES 2009.

The Challenges
Not unlike many startups, Cryer said that they responded to market obstacles including the need to rethink their business model with a simpler and faster technology to addressing the issue of credibility.

• “Here we were another California organization talking about stress and self-help; we were determined to build a strong clinical foundation to prove that the ideas we had were not nice theories.”
• He continues by saying that “clinical outcomes research is absolutely critical once through the early adopter stage to secure executive buy in.”
• Another hurdle that HeartMath has had to overcome, “especially since the beginning of the downturn in late 2008, is inertia – the hesitation of companies to invest in human capital because of uncertainty about the future.”

When I asked him if there were times they wanted to throw in the towel, he said yes and on more than one occasion.  They did not give up, they kept moving forward – their aim was not to be an overnight success.

HeartMath’s journey calls to mind Sir Ken Robinsons emphasis on thinking of time as a resource – innovation takes time. In Robinsons book, Out of Our Minds he also cites the 2010 IBM study on CEO’s who capitalized on complexity and their first focus was embodying creative leadership. I highly encourage those innovators who are getting ready to launch a product to think about HeartMath when the urge to throw in the towel hits.

A sensazione mindset that refines innovation, or building a culture of creativity is ultimately about staying out in front of customers – think about it, HeartMath created a new product as well as a new market. They were authentic and disciplined about how to engage and teach consumers how to think differently about stress and they continue to do so. Very da Vinci, very innovative, very Bruce Cryer.

*HeartMath’s research has been published in a number of scientific peer-reviewed journals such as American Journal of Cardiology, Stress Medicine, Preventive Cardiology, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science and Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

Brian Solis has it right, it is the end of business as usual, and healthcare is no exception. Has the market reality produced a new set of assumptions, emerging opportunities, or a better climate for disruptive innovation? In my interview with Jack Corrao, the managing director of the Corrao Group, he stated that the healthcare landscape is being challenged by innovations such as cloud computing, microsensor devices, and most of all, healthcare consumerism. Just as Solis wrote his book to “groom a new generation of leaders, people who want to lead and are looking for the answers and inspiration necessary to guide others into uncharted territory,” Corrao observed that there is a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs who want and need to learn quickly how to diminish any probability of failure.

Corrao’s perspective is also in sync with the recent PricewaterhouseCoopers 15th Annual Global CEO Survey which indicated that CEO’s are “slightly less optimistic than they were last year, but are still focused on growth. Further, customer demand is the primary driver of corporate strategy which includes getting the product and service portfolio right…and encouraging the free flow of ideas and innovation regardless of where they originate.” The report also notes that “almost all US CEO’s are revising their innovation strategies with 72% focusing on creating new products and services within existing business models.” As an example, many in healthcare have recently focused on Aetna, as a company that is just not talking about innovation, but leading change by leveraging innovation as a vehicle for growth. Check out what Aetna and Chairman and CEO, Mark T. Bertolini, @mtbert is tweeting: “…DC is not the answer, just the catalyst. Disruptive technology in the hands of the doc and consumer will disrupt healthcare!” Corrao agrees that, “Aetna serves as a perfect example that ‘seeing what is next’ does not only come from startup’s – Aetna is responding to the new demands of the market place, and hopefully we will see more companies doing the same; it’s important to realize that the market is much more peer-to-peer connected due to social media and technology platforms.”

Another company that seems to have responded to the connected customer and consumer is Salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company, which has built an ecosystem that allows companies to bring their ideas to market. Corrao states that, “they recognize that companies need innovation to succeed and have responded to the impact of social media; companies are changing the way they collaborate and communicate with customers and Salesforce.com provides the ability for businesses to transform themselves into a social enterprise – a tremendous tool for healthcare innovators.”

How do innovators diminish the probability of failure? As a business lifecycle consultant, Corrao has evaluated his fair share of business plans and offers up some insight:

1. Take a sanity test-speak to outside sources – “you are not the smartest person in the room, leverage outside subject matter experts.”

2. Your first business plan may not last even one year – there may be 2-3 iterations

3. Design a PR strategy where consumers become a strong voice or advocate for your product.

4. Don’t rush to market on emotions before you’ve fine tuned your plan, you’ll run out of steam.

The influential Solis states that “connected consumers represent the convergence of information technology…and the future of media and business is powered by collaboration and co-creation,” Corrao drives the point home that innovators should focus on consumers that are ready to buy real time web and mobile based information where they can take control of their health. Healthcare consumerism is a significant driver of innovation and now that companies like Aetna are talking innovation, the healthcare innovation trajectory has just changed.

References:
Solis, Brian (2011-10-12). The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution (Kindle Locations 336-337). John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.

Singer-songwriter Cat Stevens said, “If you want to be free, be free, because there are a million things to be.” Stevens was right. The counterculture of the 60s was a time of divided opinions, environmentalism, legendary music, roads less travelled, and civil rights. The push for change was led by catalysts ranging from John Lennon to John F. Kennedy, from Muhammad Ali to Martin Luther King Jr., and others who were not afraid to go in a different direction. Even Steve Jobs said that he modeled his business in the manner of the Beatles.

After my interview with Healthrageous CEO Rick Lee, I’m convinced that the 60s has given us another contrarian where there is no shortage of ideas and a refreshing reminder of how some still embrace individuality. One really must admire a guy who starts off an interview by saying healthcare innovation is an oxymoron.

Lee recognizes that healthcare and innovation have not been constant companions and is clearly passionate about shifting the consumer to the center of the health environment. He contends that we, as consumers, have more skin in the game and are in a rapidly moving groundswell – “just as corporate America can no longer afford pensions to their workers, we are rapidly approaching a time where corporate America can no longer provide healthcare to its workers.” Lee is correct and interestingly, within the healthcare landscape this awareness has morphed thousands of medical devices, app solutions, and investment dollars into the groundswell. Now that consumers are in the mix, product innovation, differentiation, and creativity will leave old paradigms in the dust.

These escalations bring an incredible amount of choice and I’m guessing that consumers want, out of the thousands of products, the best product for themselves. Consider that we do not want to have a paradox of choice – consumers so overwhelmed with choices that they make no choice, or a poor choice. Immediately brought to mind is Thaler and Sunstein’s insight in their book, Nudge, on choice architecture regarding personal decision-making, medical options, and social policy. They point out that “it is particularly hard for people to make good decisions when they have trouble translating the choices they face into the experiences they will have.” Even in an era of the empowered consumer matched up against unmet needs and new product availability, it’s a big jump for the average person to have enough knowledge to identify and differentiate between products.

Lee not only provided a real-time analysis of what is going on in the market place, but also described the Healthrageous fit into the current dynamic. Their business model is specifically designed to provide a “unique solution for each consumer, and provide a unique experience – far from a one size fits all solution.” Their model enhances individual and organization choice to select a device that is based on personal preference, functionality, financial constraints, or other criteria in order to create a create a personalized health experience.

By nature, innovators are non-conformists and Lee is certainly no exception. In fact, he has turned his 60s roots into a lasting significance. While the healthcare market has a low threshold for the trivial these days, there seems to be a need for leaders who think differently; just as Rick Lee said, he began by questioning and following the road less travelled. If you need some motivation, you might want to click here.

On most Sunday’s you will find me roaming the National Gallery not thinking about innovation. However, in January, I had an unexpected surprise when I listened to curator Mary Morton lecture on the Great French Collections where innovation was a central theme. Curiosity got the best of me so I cornered one of the senior curators by the Degas exhibit for more information and she explained that had it not been for the innovation of a new product by American painter and inventor, John Goffe Rand who innovated the squeezable tube in 1841, we would not have had the exposure to Monet, Cezanne, Renoir and others, as the collapsible tube became one of the most important innovations to redefining how painting or art was approached. I’m guessing that Rand’s motivation was not accelerating change for the impressionist, but his passion for discovery, potentiality and innovation.

I had the same sense of a bit out of the ordinary when I interviewed Tom Lee, who recently launched a spinoff and standalone company from Fox ePractice, called Symplur, with Auden Utengen and Dr. Howard Luks. Tom’s business focus is to narrow the problems of the fragmented healthcare space by providing social media expertise to the broad array of stakeholders. I would have to agree from a market perspective, new users to social media find it difficult to leverage the interconnectedness of all the key relationships, chats, tools and knowledge.

Recognizing the need to lower the barrier for entry and understanding that talking is not doing, Tom and Auden Utengen launched the Healthcare Hashtag Project with input from Phil Bauman, Howard Luks, Andrew Spong, Mark Harmel and Dr. Jeff Benabio. The goal of the hashtag project is to make Twitter more accessible to engage in conversations and finding relevant healthcare information. I actually go beyond Forbes, assessment of the hashtag project as being a great resource; it’s innovation to the very definition. To get an idea of the reach there were 170 hashtags listed at launch and now 964 with over 30 million tweets in the database; here is a list of the top 5 most popular healthcare hashtags: #HITsm, #mhsm, #hcsmca, #hcsmin, #eldercarechat.

Why is this the Healthcare Hashtag project and Symplur relevant? If we were to look into the future a few years, we would see that Tom’s innovation:

1. Created communities with a visualization/organizational tool.
2. Leveraged perfect timing.
3. Engaged and credited other healthcare thought leaders in his ventures.

I ask myself after every interview what characteristics do innovators have that make them successful? Perhaps they have an extra dose of creativity, or less of rigid thinking, but, one thing is for sure – they intensely understand the essence of a problem and start innovating. Tom Lee keeps it simple by saying “I just like being a part of change.”

The number of people in the US who access health information from their mobile devices is increasing and mobile health innovators have picked up on this. As mobile solutions, access, and usability have evolved, so has the value proposition for adoption. Like many, what matters to me as a consumer and innovator are applications and tools that make life easier – yes, anytime, anywhere.

It is reasonable to assume that the ability for apps to wrap around the lives of consumers is one reason why, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan, the mobile health industry will grow to $392 million over the next five years. Another key reason is because the new breed of healthcare innovators have spent little time paying homage to existing technologies or dance on the shoulders of past solutions. Thanks to the convergence of the cloud and mobile technology, this market is going to become very competitive, very soon.

It was Steve Jobs that said innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower, and the mobile health groundswell has not happened by default or big bang. Mobile health visionaries have ultimately recognized both a need and opportunity for mobile channels within the different layers of healthcare interactions, and as their ideas are launched to market, we will see new leaders emerge. My guess is that these highly innovative game changers will share in the following three characteristics:

1. Instinctiveness and reflexiveness. According to Lee & Hutchins, these traits are often impossible to replicate or imitate, as well. Don’t get discouraged, if you do not completely fall into that category yet, Clayton Christensen emphasizes, in The Innovators DNA, that “roughly two-thirds of our innovation skills still come through learning…”

2. The right type of ambition. Time to pull out the oft quoted, Andy Grove, “the right kind of ambition is ambition for the company’s success with the executive’s own success only coming as a by-product of the company’s victory.” Chances are this type of leader can be identified by those they bring along.

3. Holistic point of view. “Analyzing the big picture both inside and outside of the company” ranks at the top in Lindegaards’ qualities of what sets innovators as a breed apart. He also includes the ability to deal with uncertainty, which in my opinion has never been more important.

Know of any innovators that fall into those categories? I do. We are at the start of a New Year, and mobile health leaders provide the healthcare space with a chance to move from defensive posturing to transformative action. We are beyond questioning if mobile technologies will empower consumers and providers, to how mobile health will accelerate existing business models or create new markets – rooting for the mHealth leader is not a bad way to start the year!

Resources:
*Christensen, M. C., Dyer, J., Gregersen, H., The Innovators DNA: Mastering The Five Skills of Disruptive Innovation –quotes the Reznikoff el al study on identical twins.
*Lindegaard, Stefan (2010-05-13). The Open Innovation Revolution: Essentials, Roadblocks, and Leadership Skills (p. 53). John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.

Not many of us have an extra hour to spare, but one Twitter chat that you may want to squeeze into your schedule is #leadershipchat on Tuesday evenings at 8PM EST, co-hosted by author and CEO of C-Level Strategies, Inc., Lisa Petrilli and, The Connection Agent, Steve Woodruff.  Last night, the subjects were – Is It Too Late For Today’s CEOs? and The Future of Leadership – with guest hosts Ted Coine (@tedcoine) and Shawn Murphy (@shawmu).  You’ll find that this chat is fast moving and most participants have executive experience under their belts.  Last night’s content prompted me to the larger questions that face healthcare executives – what are the solutions that will help our healthcare system in an industry that has been slow to innovate?

The answers will not come from the top down old guard, but from those companies and leaders that are investing in innovation to adapt to the changing needs and behaviors of the consumer.  This week in Washington, D.C. at the mHealth Summit, Richard Migliori, EVP of UnitedHealth Group, emphasized that sustainable change will come from tools that will help the health system perform better – tools that adapt to the patient’s lifestyle and the physician’s workflow.  During his exceptional presentation he made the following statements that capture the value of mHealth:

1. We see mHealth as being the best promise for creating sustainable change within healthcare
2. We must do more than increase access… it must be affordable
3. mHealth is a means to connect with actionable information
4. We have invested in high powered analytics, to help us understand the needs of individuals; we can get down to the issues of what they have, what’s been done for them, and still what needs to be done – the problem has been getting people to pay attention to that information
5. mHealth tools, those personal communication devices, where people have adopted them into their lifestyle – a year ago it was promising, now it is delivering

Regarding the future of leadership in the healthcare sector, sustainable change will come from those leaders that invest in good ideas that factor lifestyle into the innovation equation.  While today’s CEOs stand to lose a lot if they are not equipped with a rapid product development team or neglect to design solutions around the “social” side of how people interact – the biggest mistake will be not realizing that innovation is possible beyond the halls of the C-Suite.

“We believe that there is no more powerful force for innovation than America’s entrepreneurs…”
- Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services – mHealth Summit, 2011

Many of you may be aware of the recent conflab regarding Klout changing to a new algorithm last week. Klout seemingly measures your influence online across multiple platforms so a change in algorithm impacts how your “influence” is perceived.

While there have been exceptional social media heavy weights like Pam Moore (@PamMktgNut) and Jure Klepic (@JkCallas) lending some objectivity, there has also been a disconcerting number of worries from the Twitterverse about how lowered scores may impact the ability to secure a job.  One thing that the successes and failures from the health care sector teach is that you must ask the big questions. When healthcare vendors promise a 6:1 ROI – trust me, it’s time to start asking questions.  Based on the angst that I have observed, I have three questions that may infuse perspective:

1. What is the plausibility of measuring influence?
2. What are the underpinnings of the methodology?
3. Are you thinking like an innovator?

For starters, what is the plausibility of accurately measuring influence, and what is the methodology for doing so?  Consider that the current market place has endured one crisis of confidence after another, resulting in demands for more rigorous transparency and accountability.  One of the lessons that all of us have hopefully learned over the past three years is that ultimately we, as individuals, are responsible for recognizing and challenging any nebulous measurement system.

Secondly, without a solid understanding of the underpinnings of the methodology, why would anyone place themselves or their reputation in this type of scoring system?  Consider Pavlov’s dog theory of conditioned reflex that is often used to describe someone who merely reacts to a situation rather than using critical thinking.  Given that we are in a jobless recovery, triggered responses to the daily rise and fall of  Klout scores may be disruptive to your long term vision and contribution to the market place.  There is a bigger picture – and this economy needs big thinkers.  Imagine sitting in front of a CFO trying to explain how Klout will increase organic growth of a company as a proven methodology, let alone trying to explain the random variation.

Finally, test your intuition by thinking like an innovator.  Take the concept of influence measurement out for a reality check. If you have been using Klout, it is unlikely that you have seen a clear correlation between your actions and the reflective score; this is your intuition speaking.  Rather than go into a tail spin, take a minute to read Dennis Stauffer’s blog on “Innovation Essentials – Testing our Intuitions” on the Innovation Excellence website, where he asks the right question, “How can we test our intuitions to determine how reliable they are? Which is to say: How can we use data and experience to enhance our intuitions?”  Apply this principle and ask yourself if Klout is probing for feedback to improve their product transparency?  If your intuition is telling you that there is a black box between what Klout says they are measuring, and what is actually being measured, trust your instinct.  Measuring online communication is complex and there will be more measures to come in the marketplace to test, draw correlations and causality.  As we go down this road, do your own thinking – think like an innovator and ask the right questions.

Last night I was privileged to attend and present at IgnitePrinceton, one of the global Ignite events which takes place in over 100 cities at certain times of the year.  These events have been known to attract up to 12,000 entrepreneurs, technologists, DIYers, and creative professionals.  Princeton’s event is hosted by #innochat co-moderator, Drew Marshall, the founder and Principal of Primed Associates, LLC, a company focused on innovation management and consulting.  I make the trek to Princeton, to rub elbows with others who are energized by sharing ideas, innovation, and never tire of discussing possibilities.  As per Ignite fashion, Drew opens up the events by asking presenters to be brief, be brilliant and be gone.  The opening line that I never tire of is “you are not your job!” – those are the words that set the tone to listen for new signals in the market place.

Events like TED and Ignite not only bring new ideas to the table, but innovative models of how to feature unique content concisely in a creative and energetic environment.  These events are a gathering place for the curious, the democratization of ideas, and sparking the inner vision.  As I was listening to one the speakers emphasize how ‘meetings’ do not make decisions, leaders do, I began to reflect on how innovation is encouraged in the robust life sciences.  Are we listening to other viewpoints, and the right companies in this rapidly changing business environment and what are the intersections points for engaging inside and outside of our industry?

Perhaps smaller companies are better equipped to pursue new knowledge, collaborate and build upon new ideas.  Agile companies that have the capability and mindset to proactively innovate succeed because they can respond to the velocity of this market.

The healthcare ecosystem is extremely complex with shareholders stemming from patients to investors and taking an idea to market is part of what Ignite calls, “raising the collective IQ.”   Which is a good thing considering that The Global Innovation Index is an index that measures innovation of countries and the United States ranked number nine internationally from reports on performance and what companies should be doing to spur innovation.  Which is why we need to be rooting for those companies with new ideas and organizations fostering the sharing of ideas.  While I am always rooting for the innovator and entrepreneur, I do not want to see the larger, more behemoth companies fail in this industry, even though they may be struggling to own and control their future.

Resources: by The Boston Consulting Group and National Association of Manufacturers jointly produced the index; The International Innovation Index is part of a large research study that looked at both the business outcomes of innovation and government’s ability to encourage and support innovation through public policy.

Like many engaged on twitter, I am saddened by the news of Steve Jobs death.  Minutes after the story broke, I reached out to my good friend Ken Rosen (@ken_rosen), who had worked for Jobs, and he admitted that he was taking the news harder than expected.  Harvard Business Review (#hbrchat) created a memorial page and dedicated the regular Thursday time slot to discuss his legacy.  The one comment that I must acknowledge from tweep, @IanGertler:

“Gertler, is right, hospital systems, nurses, physicians, medical offices, and patients are interacting differently due to one man’s vision of technology as the ultimate enabler.”

I recently had a conversation with a physician entrepreneur on how to launch a new product to market and which strategy would provide the best trajectory.  It was interesting that the conversation centered on how to avoid the product from being co-opted by a current system. Jobs would have been proud because this discussion centered on how to be truly disruptive to provide a product that is simpler and affordable.

More physicians using smart phone apps or PDA devices that enable faster and better decision making is another example of how Jobs impact on healthcare has been transformative.  In fact, Chris Wasden, Strategy and Innovation Practice Managing Director PwC, predicts that business models will evolve into three main categories: operational/clinical business model, consumer products and services model, and infrastructure business models.  The point is that disciplined healthcare stakeholders are thinking differently and taking innovative solutions out for a test run.  .

Further, I would venture to say that the emerging business models creating optimistic value propositions are solutions that have increased communication among the healthcare team, or provided tools to change patient and consumer health behavior.  Whether from the pharmaceutical, medical devices, or electronic medical records industries, the growth from disruptive technology can most likely be traced back to Steve Jobs in some way, because he understood how to manage the present while inventing the future

So, for the next couple of days, no whining about the slow moving healthcare sector, or how policy makers create challenges – let’s remember Steve Jobs and his legacy.  Those in healthcare are uniquely positioned and have the perfect vantage point to come up with solutions – we see through multiple lens: innovators, entrepreneur, provider, consumer and more.  If Steve Jobs were sitting next to you, what innovation would you talk to him about?   He was about looking to the future and defined innovation.  For me, I will always equate his name with possibilities…

Resources: What Steve Jobs Taught Me About Growth, Nilofer Merchant, HBR blog September 22, 2011

This tweet by Mashable technology journalist, Jolie O’Dell, {Women: Stop making startups about fashion, shopping, & babies. At least for the next few years. You’re embarrassing me}, did not go unnoticed, but just in case you missed it, take a look.   My first thought was that O’Dell certainly understands the power of social networks but her viewpoint of women entrepreneurs is simplistic.   I’m writing this as a co-founder of a mobile health company and as the partner that has not even come close to doing the heavy lifting.  The senior partner, Virginia Gurley, is a physician innovator and woman who has taken an idea and nurtured it into the terrible twos.  The past two years have not been a cakewalk and both of us would do it again.

I asked some women CEOs, whom I respect, to estimate how many women innovators there are in healthcare, and the general consensus was less than 10%. This number might not be too far off the mark.  The 2010 Catalyst Census of Women Board Directors of the Fortune 500, revealed that women in the United States held only 15.7% of all Fortune 500 board seats and 18% of leadership positions across 10 sectors, including business, politics, and media.

The McKinsey’s Women Matter 2010 report revealed that companies with more women in their executive committees have better financial performance, but also acknowledged that gender diversity is not a strategic priority.

How does this information translate for women in the biosciences, which include medical devices and instruments, pharmaceuticals and agriculture drugs, hospitals and laboratories, and research and testing?

For one, in a bioscience study the data revealed that women value innovation and diversity of thought and talent. Unfortunately, the study also showed that throughout the career progression of women in biosciences, gender inequities were present from the moment women sought degrees in sciences and continuing throughout their careers.

This information shows less than a promising path for women to trail blaze into the market and innovate.  The question is then, in light of these business realities what drives women to push through with little or no support? Consider Fast Company’s 2010 list of the ten most influential women in technology, and what these women had in common is they did not wait for the market to change to build something.  Whether these women are less risk adverse, persevere more, or embrace creating change, they went for the stretch and innovated their way to being a top 10 by creating their own pathways.  In the biosciences, Fiercebiotech posted their 2010 top women – which one, Katrine Bosley, is the CEO of Avila Therapeutics, a cancer drug company.

The notion that women need to stop starting business’s of any type reduces all of us to an expectation that we need permission to succeed, rather than making a commitment to compete for the future.  Willingness to jump into an uncertain economy with or without the support of other women should not surprise us – what drives women innovators and entrepreneurs is thinking differently about the current landscape.  I thank Jolie O’Dell for her comment, she made me stop and take a look at where women, as a collective, really stand.  From where I stand, we are not there yet, but I’m far from embarrassed.

[1] Rachel Soares et al., 2010 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors (Dec. 2010).

[2] The White House Project Dinner: White House Project examines, honors the role of innovative women in culture (Apr. 2010)

[3] Rachel Soares, et al., McKinsey & Company: Women Matter 2010 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors

[4] Anika K. Warren, Catalyst 2011: Checking the pulse of women in bioscience: what organizations need to know.

- See more at: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2011/10/01/the-female-innovators-dilemna/#sthash.W708eaxi.dpuf