I never expected my graduate degrees to give me all the practical how-to's that can perhaps only be learned through the school of hard knocks.

I'm obsessed with efficiency. And there are some tasks I need to just leave alone. And there are others - like an evening with one of my daughters or my wife - where I need to toss efficiency aside and simply be in the moment.

The most important part of aligning various expectations is to clearly describe the problem you are trying to solve and identify at least three different ways diverse users experience this problem. The more diverse your team, the better you'll be at doing this.

What really makes the difference in innovation is whether the corporate culture is paying attention to innovation.

Becoming a culturally intelligent innovators starts with something as basic as exercising self-control.

Given the increasing diversity among customers and employees, organizations that attend to cultural intelligence are more successful.

Clashing expectations are what most consistently derail any team, and especially a culturally diverse team. So if you take the time to "define" the goal carefully upfront, you've addressed one of the most difficult and important parts of the innovative process.