Mr. Obeng said if you google "innovation + creativity + consultants" you will get 60 million hits. That still amazes me. If you did the same google search just 5 years ago, the number would be closer to 20 million. Technology has completely transformed how business is done and it changes every day. The reason is innovation: the introduction of something new. If a business does not embrace innovation and make it a priority, chances are high the business will not be successful. To be innovative, a business needs people that seize and envelop the 21st century model: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication. Two companies that come to mind are IDEO, and Apple. IDEO is a company that has designed and created hundreds of products that we use or are familiar with. They have an excellent example of how innovation is used when they were challenged to create an updated shopping cart
The current education system does not embrace innovation. To be innovative, one must fail. A saying that I enjoy about failure is "the more you fail, the faster you get to success. If a student fails in a classroom, the student is looked at negatively. Many teachers only allow a student to take a test one time, they are not allowed to retake the test. Mr Obeng created a chart in his talk that showed the exponential curve of innovation in business along with the innovation curve in education. The curve in education is actually a flat line. His point was to get students and businesses to follow the curve upward where it intersected with education. The chart is shown below: The red line indicates innovation and the green line represents education.
Finally, his comments on what in business should be rewarded is identical to education. People and students who take risks, try new things, should be remunerated and compensated. This as Mr Obeng is called "smart failure"