Meet Jordan Gardiner
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Hear from students and professionals as they share how skills and mindsets in innovation and entrepreneurship have helped shape their daily thinking.
What does innovation mean to you and how does it show up/is relevant in your day-to-day?
Innovation to me is taking a problem and flipping it on its head to find a creative solution. It involves creativity, problem-solving and taking the chance to get it wrong, but not letting that stop you. In my day-to-day, I see innovation show up a lot. Working for the innovation sandboxes, I help teach innovation to students through various programs. This includes using innovation myself, to create and execute relevant programming that students want and need. Innovation also shows up in my day-to-day through the innovative solutions my students create. I’m always inspired by what they can come up with.
Do you recall any opportunities to explore concepts/practices in innovation or entrepreneurship in university? What value did they offer you?
When I did my undergrad at Dalhousie I was enrolled in a Bachelor’s of Science. I was very natural-science and research-focused at that time. I didn’t outwardly seek innovation or entrepreneurship opportunities as I felt I didn’t fit into that world. With my time at SURGE, I’ve since learned what the world of I&E is for and needs to include everyone! I hope that through SURGE’s programming and that of other I&E units on campus that students are learning that this space is for them, no matter their background. I hope they also know that the skills you can learn in I&E programming will benefit them even if they don’t want to be an entrepreneur!
What innovation skills or mindsets do you look for in new hires/new team members? Why are they important to your organization?
For me, I highly value creativity in people. Someone who can think outside the box and not just accept the status quo. At SURGE we have about 8 students who create our internship team each semester. I value their inputs on the types of programs they feel would be of value to the student population. They are the ones who are doing the customer discovery for me and can come up with some great creative ideas that haven’t been explored before. I love when someone has an idea and is willing to try it! Sometimes it doesn’t work, but that’s all part of the innovation process, iteration, iteration, iteration!
Throughout all of the Dalhousie Sandbox programs, we try to home in on four main competencies: communication, collaboration, creativity and problem-solving. I hope when students leave sandbox programming they feel a bit more confident in these skills and realize that creativity is in all of us!