Page 108 - Technology and Innovation Journal - 19-1

446 THE NAI PROFILE

and so I think it is a great time to be a scientist and DeSimone: I had a pretty enlightening experience in
engineer when you’re trying to improve people’s lot my late 20s. My Ph.D. advisor couldn’t make some
in life and their health and well-being. It’s fun to be commitment, and he threw a bone to me to take his
helpful. place on an innovation committee at a very large
chemical company. I said sure, and I walked into
T&I: Motivation has clearly been a part of your story. this boardroom that was pretty sterile looking. And
I mean, you were already an assistant professor at not only were there all white guys around the table,
the age of 25 and have set a breakneck pace in the which I barely noticed at first because I’m often in
years since then, racking up accomplishment after those environments, but what was especially striking
accomplishment. Where does that drive come from? to me was that they all had graduated from the same
DeSimone: I would say that it’s recognizing the power two research groups. They all knew the same stuff.
of a team. I would think ultimately that my product, I thought, “Man, this is the innovation committee?
to speak in business vernacular, is the people I’ve They’re at a structural disadvantage.”
been associated with. I can look around Carbon—I I don’t like hanging out with people who are like
just had the VP of materials pop his head in this me when I think about brainstorming. I like to hang
morning, who got his Ph.D. with me and has three or out with physicians and surgeons and people who
four former students of mine in his group. We were own problems. I just feel like I’m a workman. I have
on the phone with one of our customers that we’re a toolbox, but other people have problems that are
going to do something really amazing with in a few people-facing, and I’m just sort of a handyman that
months, and they were talking about the significance can help in solving them. It dawned on me that orga-
of teams. I think that what I have figured out is that nizational structure has a profound influence on
the volume and height of my legacy is directly related innovation. A lot of people will talk about the role of
to the quality of people that I’ve had the good fortune disciplinary diversity and the theme of convergence.
to touch. I’m really good at staying the hell out of I’ve chaired studies on convergence, including for the
their way and just helping them see the potential in National Academies, and many folks will limit how
themselves and what they’re doing, and that’s been they think about convergence to the definition MIT
a lot of fun. That’s the key. established a number of years ago, focused at the
interface of the life sciences, physical sciences, and
T&I: The team? engineering for advances in medicine. Those fields
DeSimone: Yes, having people who are a hell of a lot are indeed pretty hard to straddle, but this definition
smarter than you and who are motivated, and seeing leaves out the broader social sciences, the humanities,
and even the performing arts. Joining ideas from the
the unbounded potential in that team. We are good broadest range of fields to solve a pressing problem
at recruiting great people who are motivated to do is how I think about convergence. Innovation and
something special.
problem-solving processes to tackle significant soci-
T&I: Speaking of recruiting, I was quite taken with etal challenges benefit greatly from the convergence
a quote you offered on the importance of diversity of diverse people and diverse disciplines—this means
when building an innovation team: “There is no human diversity in the broadest sense too, not just
more fertile ground for innovation than a diversity disciplinary diversity.
of experience. And that diversity of experience arises You realize from having been on a lot of differ-
from a difference of cultures, ethnicities, and life ent design teams how important diversity is. You
backgrounds. A successful scientific endeavor is one recognize that how a young person contributes to
that attracts a diversity of experience, draws upon the a design team may be very different depending, for
breadth and depth of that experience, and cultivates example, on whether they grew up with a lot of money
those differences, acknowledging the creativity they or they didn’t. How someone looks at a problem is
spark.” What experiences brought you to that reali- shaped by life experience; if you grow up without
zation? How do you put that into practice with your a lot of resources, your problem-solving approach
research group and your company? will be shaped by that experience. The richness of