NEW YORK — A good innovator is someone who takes calculated risks, doesn't fear failure and doesn't use the word innovation.

That was the message that management consultant and author Scott Berkin emphasized at today's session of CUNA's America's Credit Union Conference and Expo.

Berkin, a former Microsoft executive, said that most of history's greatest inventions were the result of long, drawn-out processes involving trial and error and did not come out an epiphany or eureka moment. He added that to understand why something works well, you should look at the events that happened in the minutes, days and weeks before a breakthrough occurred.