Frederick Felt spent 12 years at Google and served as the company’s first chief innovation evangelist for California. Before retiring in 2024, Felt built the tech giant’s innovation lab and co-founded Google Garage, an initiative that inspires thousands of employees to explore new ideas.
Looking back on those years CNBC Make It, Felt explained how he changed the way he approached his work and daily tasks, helping to develop a culture of innovation within the company.
In his recent book, “Next is Now: How to Live for the FutureFelt shares three key lessons that apply specifically to tech workers, aiming to help everyone “live a more meaningful life.”
- Embrace a “yes, and” mindset: People often have a pessimistic outlook and tend to focus on why something can go wrong. [speaker’s name]He explains, “We spend most of our time rejecting ideas with ‘no, but,’ right?” He suggests shifting your mindset and adopting a more positive ‘yes, and’ approach. Inspired by improvisation, this approach can significantly improve communication and team dynamics. Instead of rejecting ideas, ‘yes, and’ encourages building on them, fostering creativity and collaboration.
- Visualize your future self – Felt, who spent 10 years as an adjunct professor of design thinking at Stanford University, noted that Google’s leadership encourages people to visualize their ideal, successful self and then map out practical steps to realize that vision. “Try really hard to visualize where you want to be in the future,” Felt told CNBC Make It. “This is super effective because it really helps you understand where you really want to go, and it influences the choices you make in the moment.”
- Take time for yourself – Google has consistently encouraged employees to meditate and offer mindfulness courses. Pferdt emphasized that daily meditation helps employees be more receptive to new ideas and avoid negative thoughts.
“It’s important to take some time to check in with yourself every now and then,” he added. “If we don’t, we’re on autopilot and reacting instead of reacting to ourselves. Our reactions are usually negative, closed-minded, unempathetic and full of hate.” [and] Detaching from these is only possible through mindful practice.”
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