Andy Cohen, editor of Counselor magazine, recently spoke with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak for an exclusive interview. Here is a portion of the Q & A:

Counselor: What are some lessons you can share about innovation and creativity?

Wozniak: Innovation and creativity are words that have wide meaning and there’s a great difference…one of the things is computers cannot be innovative. Sometimes, people need to realize that it’s not the product that’s innovative, but the way it’s used or applied.

Counselor: How can others find the impetus for innovation?

Wozniak: There has to be a drive toward innovation. I knew I always wanted to create new things that made life easier for people. It was just intrinsic. But if you have the motivation for something then it starts to permeate all of your thought processes. I wanted to help a social revolution that was being spoken of where people would communicate and educate better than ever before. That was me, and it became part of everything I did. So, you have to have a drive behind innovation. You have to have some kind of end goal for what that innovation and creativity will ultimately look like.

Counselor: What do you think companies need to do in the future to get better use out of technology?

Wozniak: They’re going to need to reduce the amount of rules they have. I’m just down on the rigid structure that many companies have in place today as it relates to technology.

Counselor: How should they change?

Wozniak: Here’s one example: They should allow employees to bring their own devices with them to work – laptops, phones, tablets. Most people have them today and they prefer to use their own stuff. So, let them bring their own devices and hook up to the network while they’re at the office.

Counselor: What other technologies do you think will have the most impact on companies moving forward?

Wozniak: The cloud will probably be the biggest immediately. There are too many powerful economic benefits for companies and organizations not to move their operations to the cloud. It’s efficient and easy to access from anywhere, so the virtual nature of business will become that much more important. But there are some major issues with it too.

Counselor: What are those?

Wozniak: Well, security for one. The hacking is out of control. When you put all of your company’s vital information and data on the cloud, you’re not in charge of the protection of it anymore. Some cloud-based service provider is. So, your valuables are out there for anybody to see and you have no control over them. That’s not good. Now, hackers can get into any database they want these days, but it’s easier for them to have access on the cloud.
    The full article is featured in the December issue of Counselor. Cohen also spoke with Wozniak after the tech guru’s keynote at the ASI Show in Orlando. Check out the video and all the other videos from the show at www.asicentral.com/videos