To Dharmawan, who is also a surgeon and academic, innovation is key to the medical field. “Innovation is how to make research useful, and useful in healthcare is how you actually improve patient outcomes,” she said.

Tint agreed with her and added that “innovation is not design, but really bringing [things] to [the] public. It is impacting human lives at scale and preferably [you being able] to create a commercially sustainable business out of it that [will allow you to] continue to innovate.”

For Dharmawan, innovation should start with an understanding of the problem at hand. “You [need to] understand the pain points and then brainstorm the solution to solve that specific problem.”

Tint chimed in, saying that in order for workplaces to encourage employees to be innovative, leaders should “[foster] a culture that allows people to fail; that provides a psychologically [safe] environment for them to push the envelope—and if they fail, to learn and try again”.

See also: 9 of the Most Followed Honourees on Gen.T 2022

When asked for their views on the topic of building innovative workplaces, Filipino honouree Renz Chong, the co-founder of BreederDAO, shared that he strongly believes in one of the important features is to encourage employees to keep learning.

“Learning is one of the biggest features of our culture at BreederDAO,” he shared. “As most people in our industry would say, blockchain and crypto are in their early stages [of development] and the narrative today may not necessarily be the same as tomorrow. Hence, we need to make sure that everyone is constantly challenging themselves, developing their knowledge and pushing the boundaries of what is. Concretely, we expose our colleagues to numerous [learning] opportunities, such as modules, crypto chitchat sessions, giving them overseas exposure and enrolling them into courses.”

Separately, Roland Ros, the founder and CEO of Kumu, also shared that employee wellness is also integral to the success of an innovative culture. “Employee wellness is critical to company execution. In addition to a wellness program focused on mental and physical health, it’s very important to foster a culture of trust and empathy through clear communication of the company’s vision and progress. By building a transparent framework amongst team members, we are able to get a clear understanding of our team's biggest needs, so that we could properly prioritise what issues we must address first,” he says.

With a dedication to sustainability, mindfulness, and innovation, Lenovo and the ThinkPad are on track and ready to impress. Clearly, this generation’s leaders of tomorrow are aligned in their beliefs and could not agree more on the importance of pushing boundaries while making the world a better place, too.

Lenovo is calling for applications for its first Thinker Award, which aims to recognise the most innovative people and stories. Find out more about the award and how to apply here.

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