How These Dads Encourage Innovation

Location: Charlotte

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

Whenever we encounter problems (whether big or small) I teach my children to focus on and find the solution. Problem identifiers are useful, but problem solvers are absolutely invaluable!

Kyle Harvey, Zone Sales Manager

Location: Ohio Valley Zone

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

Reading is first. My kids are all young (7, 5, 5, 3) and the more they read the more creative they become themselves. I can see their creative/innovative minds really expand in their drawings, Lego creations, made-up games and other areas of their life as they read more and more. Reading opens their minds to possibilities. Then my wife, Annette, and I just let them kinda “do” without setting too many “rules or limitations” around their creativity.

Duncan Bennett, Americas Solution Advisor Leader

Location: Houston, TX

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

I push them to learn new things. Each summer they take coding classes, finance/investment classes and any other topics that may interest them. I then encourage them to find ways to use what they have learned, along with their talents and gifts, to help others.

Steven D. Foster, Lead Project Engineer

[pictured above]

Location: Phoenix, AZ

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

I encourage innovation with my children (15, 13, 6, 2) by using everyday situations as learning and teaching moments. When we see something that may not work well or something that could possibly work better we talk about it and how it could be improved. This way it is fun, relevant, and meaningful to them and their world.

Andrew Parkinson, Senior HR Director

Location: Dubai, UAE

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

To help encourage our children to better innovate, we try not make anything too easy! Every now and again we have theme weekends, the last time was to celebrate Ocean Day, we turned our lounge into the deep sea and the play focused on the protection of our oceans. To offset the children’s constant thirst for ‘screen time’ we make them earn this privilege by ensuring they have dedicated time for purely imaginative play. ‘Uno’ is also a great way for the family to bond and to teach the children multidimensional thinking.

Darwin Jebha, Director IT

Location: Phoenix, Arizona

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

We let kids play whatever they like and motivate them to keep trying things. That gets them interested in areas arts, music, sports, and then we coach them to become better. The innovation starts when you have passion and enjoy what you do.

Kris Finnestad, Product Development Quality Assurance Engineer

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

I have always encouraged my kids to be interested in anything and everything related to technology, whether it’s telling them about the technology at my work or talking with them about other technological innovations, or even supporting them when they build their own computers or install modifications to their vehicles. I try to answer questions that they may have and research when I don’t know the answer. Whatever the case, I give them the freedom and resources to learn and discover as much as they can and help out when they need.

Michael Wong, Assistant General Counsel 

Location: Morris Plains, New Jersey

How do you encourage your children to innovate?

When deciding on a solution to a problem, my two older children know how to formally use a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and matrix to plan and strategize their solution.  We spend a lot of time in SWOT meetings together talking about modifications to bicycles and toys!