Back to work: How innovation is a state of mind and the importance of practice

Kristell sees innovation as a state of mind, a way to be open-minded and to differentiate oneself from others. Discover what her advice is to achieving this and on what motto she relies:

Can you briefly introduce yourself?

My name is Kristell Klosowski and I just joined AXA and the Digital Agency six months ago. Before AXA I worked at Bouygues Telecom and Google.

Why did you choose to participate in Start-In?

Actually, the idea came from a member of the digital agency who came back from the US and saw the potential of some pieces of technology dedicated to customers. So we decided to work on it and brainstorm how these devices could improve our user experience.

How did you find the work/life balance while you were working on your project?

During the Start-In project, we had to go the extra mile to differentiate our idea. So sometimes we worked during the weekend. The thing is that it didn’t feel like work, as we were learning a lot and that was really exciting.

How do you perceive innovation in general and in particular at AXA?

For me innovation is a state of mind, a will of making things happen and challenging the status quo to deliver new value to the end user. At AXA, I feel that the innovation can come from anywhere and has different forms. The challenge is to identify and scale the best ideas as fast as we can.

What have you learnt from Start-In and what would you do differently?

I loved the energy of the different teams and the great advice we had from the coach to prepare ourselves. “Practice, practice, practice” is the one piece of advice that I’ll apply the most in my future career. In fact, if I were to do this all again, I would definitely practice more ;)

If you could offer one bit of advice from your experience what would it be?

If you want to make your idea a success you’ll have to fight for it, so the best advice is to work a lot.

What key skills do you think are important when innovating?

Be open-minded, curious and dare to have crazy ideas.