Driving a breakthrough mindset is a critical step for realization of innovation for continued business success and growth. The goal of this paper is to begin characterizing one attribute we believe plays a role in driving a breakthrough mindset-big picture thinking: an ability to see the challenges and opportunities associated with multi-level interactions, interrelationships and interdependencies that are technical, social, and temporal within and surrounding the scope and responsibilities of the individual. Those who can see and leverage this "big picture" we refer to as Big Picture Thinkers (BPT). In the corporate environment, there is significant concern over the loss of BPT due to the retirement of Baby Boomer generation engineers. In the academic environment, the development of BPT aligns with efforts to prepare engineers who can work and innovate across disciplines although it may run counter to efforts to develop engineers with specialized expertise. There is little empirical research on the skills, behaviors, and values of BPT in technology-based industries. Research is needed to develop a language of BPT that can guide professional development in the workforce and in academia, as well as to understand the ways BPT are critical to driving a breakthrough mindset. In this paper we present preliminary findings from a two-phase research project on characteristics of BPT conducted within a Fortune 500 Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) multi-national company. The aim of this research is to support ways to capture technical knowledge in industry and enable the transfer of this knowledge to the next generation of professionals.
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