SINGAPORE – At Spikes Asia2014, Hanyi Lee offered some home truths in her presentation, beginning with a pet peeve: The word, “innovation”.
“I hate the word innovation,” Lee, the chief creative officer of The Secret Little Agency (TSLA, said in her presentation, The Truth Is.
“The word has lost its meaning. I don’t know what people really mean when they say it, and I don’t know what people take out of it when I say it.
“We need to take the word off its pedestal and have an honest conversation about it.”
Instead, Lee suggested that innovation sprang from being brutally honest when dealing with problems and being responsive to change.
“The most innovative people weren’t afraid to tell the truth. It might piss people off, but innovators are honest,” said Lee.
She pointed to Albert Einstein to Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg as true innovators, who have been brutally honest at times but helped change the world.
“Innovation is a dirty word. If you want to make something new happen you have to get down in the trenches and act.”
Although truth is usually the first casualty – whether in talking to clients, teams or even oneself – given Asian wariness of confrontation, Lee was adamant that having “real and truthful” people would help companies become more innovative.
Lee was similarly scathing about the way some companies interpreted innovation. “You can’t steal a creds reel and a powerpoint deck and become the next Wieden + Kennedy, because it’s not true to who you are,” she said.
“You need to hire experts that are themselves – not hire by title or experience. You need to resist the temptation of an amazing resume if that person doesn’t somehow fit.
“You need to hire the most truthful and real people you can find,” she said.
