Rachel Kuhr - Engineer for Shark Tank

Rachel Kuhr is a UT educated mechanical engineer who helps contestants and companies on Shark Tank with product innovation and development.  She is profiled in the Dallas Morning News today in the Cheryl Hall column - The Innovator's Innovator.

Her tips on becoming a better innovator, engineer, and designer:

• Take an improv class.  This process of letting the situation evolve is similar to starting a company.  You come in with an idea and see how people react.  You have to turn it into something that everybody wants.
• Create discomfort.  If you have no reason to innovate, you won't.  Needle yourself to feel a little less comfortable and actually want something.
• Widen your horizons.  Talk to people you wouldn't outside your circle of friends.  Travel.  Push yourself to try something new and different every day, even if it's something tiny.
• Have the courage to toss out wild "what if" ideas.  Don't take it personally when your concept doesn't fly.  Let people beat it up, move it around and expand it.
• Ease into risk-taking.  Start with baby steps.  You will be amazed at how you can talk yourself into taking on bigger and bigger opportunities overt time.