Innovation Thinking: Principles & Practice

Innovation Thinking: Principles & Practice is a collaboration between Columbia Engineering Executive Education, Columbia+, and Honor Education.

This non-degree, non-credit course invites you to explore what makes innovation truly transformative in the way we think, lead, and connect with the world around us.

Our goal is simple: to equip you with the insight, language, and perspective to recognize and lead innovation that matters.

Whether you’re here to sharpen your creative thinking, challenge conventional approaches, or shift the trajectory of your work, we hope this course brings you one step closer to your personal and professional ambitions.

Examine how revolutionary ideas emerge, endure, and transform human experience—through visionary case studies, historical analysis, and a framework for discerning true innovation from surface change.

Course dates: Wednesday, September 17, 2025 – Wednesday, November 5, 2025, 5–6 pm PT

Course Description

Course Overview

In an era where “innovation” has become a buzzword applied to everything from minor product updates to app features, this course asks a profound question: What enables an invention to transform human experience?

Drawing on landmark case studies—from the printing press to the moon landing, from instant photography to artificial intelligence—this rigorous master class examines how certain innovations transcend mere improvement to become genuinely revolutionary.

Through an academic lens, you’ll explore why so many ambitious concepts are diluted or abandoned, while certain rare ideas—championed by visionary individuals and organizations—fundamentally alter how humans think, create, connect, and perceive the world around them.

What You’ll Cultivate

Visionary Discernment: The capacity to perceive and evaluate the transformative potential of ideas beyond surface-level innovation.
Pattern Recognition: Understanding the common elements across innovations that truly matter.
Strategic Imagination: Envisioning futures based on deep historical perspective.
Judgement in Design & Communication: Distinguishing between features and genuine experience enhancements
Psychological and Organizational Awareness: Recognizing the forces that enable or impede revolutionary thinking

Who This Is For

Intellectually curious professionals seeking scholarly depth beyond simplified innovation frameworks.
Leaders in design, business, policy, or technology who desire historical perspective and theoretical rigor.
Individuals committed to understanding how truly consequential ideas take shape and gain traction
Those who believe that understanding the past is essential to shaping meaningful futures

What You Will Learn

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

Think critically about claims regarding the revolutionary significance of innovations.
More effectively distill and communicate your own ideas about what distinguishes a major innovation from a minor one.
Anticipate unintended consequences that arise when an innovation is adopted at a massive scale.
Effectively budget your time in going through large volumes of material.

Course Modules

Module 1: How do we envision the future?

Module 2: What does it mean for an innovation to be truly revolutionary?

Module 3: What is the importance of envisioning the act of innovation?

Module 4: What is the difference between a new feature and a new kind of experience?

Module 5: What is the connection between “a superpower” and an enriched life?

Module 6: How do technologies revolutionize communication?

Module 7: What are the effects of changes in communication media?

Module 8: What type of organization is most conducive to the creation of revolutionary innovation?

Instructors

Joel Podolny

Executive-in-Residence, Columbia Engineering

Joel Podolny is the CEO of Honor Education. Prior to that he was Vice President and Dean of Apple University from 2009 to 2021, and his interest in this course arose out of his conversations with Greg around revolutionary innovations. Before joining Apple, Joel was a Professor of Organizational Behavior and Strategy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a Professor of Sociology in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, a Professor of Management at the Harvard Business School, and Dean at the Yale School of Management.

Greg Christie