The number one thing I urge people to remember is it is all about being scientific about managing strategic uncertainty, while striking the important balance between being thorough and being flexible.

Now, I worry a bit about the TEDification of the world where style trumps substance, so hopefully you have a good blend of both!

I'm suggesting that principles meant to deal with uncertainty that occurs naturally can be useful to manage the uncertainty that characterizes any new idea.

In my mind, so-called "cultures of innovation" really boil down to one word: curiosity.

There's a general belief that failure is the friend of the innovator, but I've come to view it a different way.

Think about how much it costs to learn more. Sometimes you want to build confidence by knocking off the easy things.

Bring different groups together internally, send them out to visit other companies, or bring in interesting speeches. Show that you love learning by having people on staff whose job it is to explore without any near-term metrics. Publicly shut a project down and talk about what a great job a team did because they learned so much. And so on.