What is Breakthrough? Adopting a Breakthrough Mindset with Kim Christfort

Transcript

Kim Christfort: Breakthrough is that “aha” moment when the light bulb just turns on.

Speaker 1: Breakthrough to me is when you have finally had enough of doing things one way and you try something new.

Speaker 2: What is breakthrough? Breakthrough is magic.

Kim Christfort: Breakthrough. It's a powerful word with many angles to it. History's full of stories about moments of breakthrough. That sudden insight that somebody had, and you know, the stories may be exaggerated, but they're compelling. Einstein apparently had a dream of a falling man that inspired the theory of relativity, and one of my favorites is Archimedes' naked run through the streets, shouting “eureka!” when he made the connection between mass and water displacement in his bathtub. These are powerful stories and they are one type of breakthrough, but there's many other kinds as well. There's breakthroughs where people overcome what is an established standard. For instance, there's a story about a design school team who challenged the status quo about low infant survival rates in certain environments by coming up with an idea for a baby warmer that was a fraction of the cost of a traditional incubator. There's also breakthroughs where athletes overcome records and they're able to achieve far more than anyone said was possible.

These are all kinds of breakthroughs, but I think one of our favorite kinds is one we witness frequently in the Deloitte Greenhouse, and that is breakthroughs that are not coming from an obligation to address an existing problem, but rather they're coming from a desire to anticipate and get ahead of emerging issues and needs. And this is a breakthrough that happens when people step outside of the comfort of the status quo and ask what if. Indeed, at its core, breakthrough is all about making positive change, moving from the what's before to the what could be. But although breakthrough may sometimes feel like a serendipitous moment in time and reality, breakthrough is a journey of innovation and evolution. Unlike most journeys, it works out best when we prepare ourselves, when we create the conditions for success and when we persevere until we reach that fresh destination. Just beyond the horizon.

About Breakthrough by Design

To listen to more episodes in the series, visit the Breakthrough by Design library page.

How can you get to Breakthrough? Find out on Breakthrough by Design, the podcast where we chat with a diverse array of guests: from scientists to CEOs, academics to athletes, exploring what it takes to get to breakthrough. After years of research and working with executives in the field, we have found that there are specific principles and techniques that, when applied with intention and regularity, can enhance your chances of achieving real breakthrough. In each episode we invite a unique expert to help us dig deep into different aspects of these principles, sharing intriguing insights, tactical tips, and surprising stories around how to devise, develop, and drive transformative innovation.

We’ve codified these 10 principles into a recently released book, The Breakthrough Manifesto: 10 Principles to Spark Transformative Innovation, co-authored by our host, Kim Christfort and Dr. Suzanne Vickberg. To learn more, visit www.breakthroughmanifesto.com.