When Fujifilm faced extinction in the digital revolution, their survival didn’t come from better cameras — it came from beauty products. This seemingly improbable pivot, which doubled the company’s valuation, represents the kind of breakthrough thinking that separates transformative companies from those that fade into obsolescence.
But what if such innovative leaps weren’t just strokes of luck? What if there was a scientific framework for consistently generating breakthrough ideas? A resident in psychiatry with a master’s degree in leadership and innovation and an accomplished poet, Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa has done just that.
In her dynamic new keynote, Chika unveils her blueprint for innovation — a neuroscience-driven, three-pillar framework designed to revolutionize leadership and organizational success for today’s world. Diving into the specific neural networks that drive breakthrough thinking, she shares practical strategies to cultivate an innovation-ready mindset, both on an individual and organizational level, for lasting impact.
A Modern Renaissance Woman
Throughout her life, Chika has been called a renaissance woman — someone who can bridge the worlds of science and art with remarkable fluency. Chika is an accomplished doctor who has flourished in the sciences, but she is also a nationally ranked spoken word poet and a bestselling author who credits her artistic pursuits for her academic and professional achievements.
While many people view science and art as two different worlds requiring two different minds or modes of thinking, Chika says, it’s actually the same mindset, the same framework, that enables excellence in both areas.
“Innovation,” she said, “is the ability to recognize novelty and find refreshing ways to process information.” This was a skill Chika honed as a poet, identifying “invisible strings” to connect seemingly disparate metaphors. She leverages this same skill as a doctor and psychiatrist to connect what can be seemingly unrelated symptoms to determine a diagnosis.
This insight into the way her mind works became the foundation to her innovation framework that today, she shares as a keynote speaker to help others consistently spark new ideas and breakthroughs within themselves and their teams. Backed by neuroscience and real-world success stories, her blueprint is a proven pathway to sustainable cultures of innovation.
Understanding the Neural Networks of Innovation
At the heart of Chika’s framework lies fascinating research into how our brains generate innovative ideas. Highly creative individuals, she says, excel at toggling between two crucial neural networks: the default mode network — our brain’s imaginative powerhouse — and the executive control network, which handles analytical thinking.
It’s through activating and harmonizing these two neural networks that we can unleash our full potential for innovation and ingenuity — whether in the boardroom, at home, or within our communities.
The Three Pillars of Innovation
There are three key pillars that play an essential role in activating and enhancing our own creative and analytical capabilities as well as those around us. Embracing and actioning all three pillars is what builds a sustainable and healthy culture of innovation, enabling all of us to reach our full potential and unlock collective genius.
Pillar One: Cultivate an Innovative Mindset
The first pillar focuses on activating the neural networks key to adopting an innovative mindset — the default mode network and the executive control network — and learning to toggle between them to enhance curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Here’s how:
- Exercise curiosity: Expose your mind to novelty, Chika said. Challenge yourself to listen to a new podcast, watch a movie in a different genre than usual, or embrace your inner child and daydream for five minutes.
- Ignite creativity: Find different ways to spark magic in your mind, Chika said. It starts with silencing the critic within. Give yourself permission to write or brainstorm without judgment, defer it till later. At work, challenge yourself to speak with people of different expertise on the same topic to see if you can cross pollinate.
- Prioritize sleep: Your default mode is most active when in REM sleep. This is why you can go to bed with a problem and wake up with a solution, Chika said. Sleep is when your mind creates connections and consolidates memories, which enhances your critical thinking.
- Question certainty: The cornerstone of critical thinking is our ability to challenge bias, Chika said. Take something you know to be a hard truth and challenge yourself to think of an alternative. Ask questions, listen deeply, and reflect. Getting comfortable with that discomfort enables you to better navigate uncertainty.
Pillar Two: Ignite Innovation in Others
The second pillar focuses on how to build an environment or culture that ignites the potential for innovation and ingenuity in others. This is accomplished by leaders who are “audaciously authentic” and embrace “courageous compassion”, Chika says.
The practice of being authentic and compassionate down regulates the fear-driven centre of the brain — the amygdala — while releasing oxytocin, the hormone involved in social bonds. If you live in fight or flight mode, Chika said, your ability to critically think and be creative shuts down. Leaders can de-escalate this within their workplaces by strengthening connection and relationships through authenticity and compassion. Here’s how:
- Leading with compassion starts with validation and ends with gratitude, Chika said — I hear you, I see you, how can I support you? And thank you for letting me be a part of your circle.
- Leading with authenticity means leaning into vulnerability. The worse doctor is the one that thinks they know everything, Chika said. People don’t want perfection, ask questions, admit your faults, and acknowledge your blindspots. This is how you grow as a team.
Pillar Three: Unlock Collective Genius
The final pillar addresses how to scale innovation across organizations. Once you ignite the innovative mindset within yourself and your team through authenticity and compassion, you build the psychological safety necessary for bold ideas and innovative thinking.
Chika shared the example of Fujifilm’s ingenuity to represent the kind of breakthrough thinking that sets successful companies and leaders apart. With the advent of digital photograpy, Fujifulm was on the brink of collapse. Through the application of the innovation blueprint, they ended up doubling their valuation, Chika said. How? By bringing together different teams from across the company and asking them to brainstorm the “invisible strings” that connect their proprietary chemicals to other industries. From that cross-pollination, she continued, they found brand new revenue streams in industries ranging from skincare to medicine to ensure their company’s survival. Adaptability and innovation became their new product to ensure their lasting success.
This wouldn’t have been possible without authentic leadership, Chika said, a leader unafraid to admit their vulnerability — they don’t know everything — and ask for input from different experts in different fields. They checked their biases, recognized the value of diverse voices, and empowered their teams to contribute and think boldly, turning the company around.
Transform Your Organization’s Innovation Potential
As organizations face unprecedented challenges, Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa‘s science-backed approach to innovation offers a powerful path forward. Her keynote presentation, “The Blueprint for Innovation: Three Pillars of Transformational Leadership,” is a practical roadmap for driving ingenuity, adaptability, and long-term success
Are you ready to revolutionize your organization’s approach to innovation? Contact us today to book Chika for your next event and discover how her unique blend of medical expertise, artistic insight, and leadership wisdom can transform your team’s innovative potential.
