Maybe we are all innovators. 

My grandfather was an engineer, but an inventor at heart. He created a lipstick holder that pushed the lipstick up as the cover opened, invented a threadless button, and helped develop oil-fired central heating while working directly for Lord Nuffield, founder of Morris Motors in Oxford, England. 

He was always imagining things that didn’t exist yet and finding ways to make them real. Many of his ideas were never patented, but he never stopped imagining. I know him through the sketches and letters he left behind and the stories our family has passed down. In a way, those ideas are how I know him. 

Perhaps that’s why Zeno being named one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators made me think about what it means to be an innovator. 

I’ve never thought of myself as one. I don’t fill notebooks with sketches or write the code behind the next big idea. But my years at Zeno have taught me that innovation isn’t reserved for inventors or engineers. 

That’s why this recognition hits differently. It recognizes not just what we create, but the people and culture that make it possible. 

Great Ideas Can Come from Anyone

I’ve had the privilege of working with creative and curious minds who constantly push me to think about what’s next. I’ve also learned that great ideas can come from anyone. Often, all it takes is a fresh perspective and the opportunity to act on it. 

At Zeno, being fearless, entrepreneurial, and ambitious means putting that belief into practice. Our experts in technology, engineering, and AI help people across Zeno take those ideas further. 

HIVE, our AI-powered predictive intelligence and activation system, shows what that can look like. It started as a scrappy solution and grew as strategists, creatives, data specialists, technologists, and client teams each brought something to make it better. 

Our AI Playgrounds and AI Advocates build on that approach, giving people opportunities to experiment, build, and share what they learn. 

Innovation Is More Than Technology

Innovation can also be about changing how we work. Our One Team Model disrupts the traditional agency structure by making specialist capabilities integral from the start, helping clients respond to what’s happening now and anticipate what comes next. 

Sometimes innovation is a new technology or product. But it can also be a better question, a different process, or simply the confidence to look at the way something has always been done and ask, “Why?” 

Being fearless isn’t about having the answer. It’s about having the curiosity and confidence to look for a better one. 

Which brings me back to my grandfather. 

For most of my life, when I heard “innovator,” I imagined someone like him: an engineer with a sketch, imagining something that didn’t exist and figuring out how to make it real. 

I see his story differently now. Having the idea is only part of innovation. What surrounds an idea and the opportunity to take it somewhere matter too. 

An innovator can be the technologist who builds something new, the person who sees a problem others don’t, or the colleague who makes a connection no one else has made. Sometimes, it’s the person who recognizes those thinkers and gives them room to create. 

Maybe the best workplace for innovators isn’t one that employs a handful of innovators. 

It’s one that helps everyone discover they can be one.