267. Alan Gregerman | The Wisdom of Ignorance
BookThinkers: Life-Changing Books
How to Brainstorm by Collecting External Ideas
Nicholas asks for practical brainstorming strategies and Alan advises leaving the office to gather ideas and inspirations.
Join us for BookThinkers LIVE 2025! Happening November 9, 2025!
https://www.bookthinkers.com/book-thinkers-live-2025
In today’s episode, we have the pleasure to interview Alan Gregerman, author of The Wisdom of Ignorance: Why Not Knowing Can Be the Key to Innovation in an Uncertain World.
Alan is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and internationally recognized innovation strategist. He’s the President and Chief Innovation Officer of VENTURE WORKS Inc., where he’s helped hundreds of teams create meaningful breakthroughs—often by unlocking the hidden genius in people who aren’t “experts.” He’s been featured in major outlets from The Wall Street Journal to CNN and is known for turning curiosity into real-world results.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to use “enlightened ignorance” to spark better ideas, a simple new-hire clipboard exercise that surfaces game-changing insights on day one, and why 99% of great ideas come from outside your industry—including nature—and how to adapt them fast.
We hope you enjoy this incredible conversation with Alan Gregerman.
To Learn More about Alan and buy his book visit:
The Book: https://a.co/d/gUtK54b
Website/Socials:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-gregerman-a33b236/
https://www.instagram.com/agregerman
https://www.facebook.com/alan.s.gregerman
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:31 The Wisdom of Ignorance & How To Innovate By “Not Knowing”
5:21 How to stand out by your organization & drive (not only by what you know)
8:01 Connecting the dots between unconnected opportunities
10:45 Practical strategies for innovation (get out of the box!)
15:07 Lessons from nature to integrate into business
16:47 The importance of presence to get new insights
18:48 We are most innovative when we are purposeful
20:02 6 principles to cultivate innovation as a business leader
25:23 Real-world successful applications of his own ideas
28:49 Idea Sex & Book Sex (A practice for innovation)
32:32 Alan’s innovation & ownership with his personal brand & style
35:07 Paying attention in everyday moments to spot a fuller spectrum of life
37:41 Where to connect with Alan, his work and his book
38:56 “Don’t stop sharing your genius”
________________________________________________
Join the world's largest non-fiction Book community!
https://www.instagram.com/bookthinkers/
The purpose of this podcast is to connect you, the listener, with new books, new mentors, and new resources that will help you achieve more and live better. Each and every episode will feature one of the world's top authors so that you know each and every time you tune-in, there is something valuable to learn. If you have any recommendations for guests, please DM them to us on Instagram. (www.instagram.com/bookthinkers)
If you enjoyed this show, please consider leaving a review. It takes less than 60-seconds of your time, and really makes a difference when I am trying to land new guests. For more BookThinkers content, check out our Instagram or our website. Thank you for your time!
The AI-powered Podcast Player
