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How can we become more innovative? The first step is to get past whatever barrier is holding you back. It’s like being on the sideline during a game, and as soon as you step foot on the field everything changes. “We’ve all got this notion that, ‘I’m not creative,’” Field said. “Yeah you are. Some of us are more creative than others in certain ways, but ev erybody has a level of creativity. The key is to get past that artificial barrier and get on the field, which means you just have to start. It’s a full participa tion event and you have to be willing to try.” What gets in the way of innovation? The reality is, innovation is messy and human nature steers away from messy. If you are a leader, you have to be willing to let your team try messy things. If you are a perfectionist, you have to be willing to look at the whole picture and speed up your process rather than focus on small details. “All the magic happens outside of your comfort zone,” Field said.

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Field requires all of his students to do one thing that is most often out of their comfort zones – talk to 50 peo ple in their target market. If students can master pushing past their comfort zones, they will win. But if they get caught in that box with those fleas, they’re going to be in trouble. “How do you do it?” he asked. “Thirty seconds of courage. I think about how I just need 30 seconds of being brave – not even a full minute – over and over again.” With practice, you will learn how to push out of your comfort zone and eventually, become a more innovative person. “It will not be a straight line. Innova tion is never a straight line, it’s twists and turns and mistakes and going back and starting over and retraining,” he said. “Innovation is really noth ing more than this: the ability to take a look and see what everybody else is seeing and see something differ ent. Where everybody else sees the problem, see the opportunity. Where everybody else sees the throwaway resource, see the value. It’s true in people, it’s true in land, it’s true in in novation.” TL

are the products of design. That can be a harder concept to grasp. “If all your friends are cowboys and cowgirls, you have a problem,” Field said. “If you want to really learn inno vation, you are going to have to hang out with people who don’t think, talk, behave or look like you.” About 20 years ago, Field’s father began inviting people who had been critical of agriculture to their family’s branding. Now, their brandings have the craziest group of people – from nurses and doctors to hippies and the county attorney. “Everybody has learned some skill at that branding, but most important, we’ve learned to listen to what they’re observing and having to say about the land, the product and how we do things,” Field said. “That’s pretty valu able. You need the most bizarre set of friends as you’re going to find, and you need as many bizarre friends as you can get because they will bring some thing to you, which is a way to see the problem differently.”

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