COEUR d'ALENE - "Haunting" was a word someone used to describe the interview of Mr. Burt Rutan at the Wine Cellar.

Most people show up at the Innovation Collective Fireside Chats expecting to be inspired and challenged, but the man who has developed 46 different research aircraft types and is the godfather of commercial space travel thinks and lives in a way that most of us can't even comprehend. Needless to say, the challenge was deeper than most people expected.

His lack of fascination with novelty technology was refreshing and an appropriate slap in the face that our world needs. In today's pop culture, the new feature on a phone is the news that spreads like wildfire around the world.

"NASA had the same budget they have now when they put a man on the moon," Rutan said. His point: True innovation has stalled in many ways.

Kary Krieger, a student at University of Idaho who attends the Fireside Chats, was intrigued with Mr. Rutan's view of today's leading tech companies.

"He kept calling them 'enablers' with a curmudgeon-ey point of view," she said. "I felt like what he was saying was that for tech companies to be forcing our heads down, toward our phones and tablets, is a sort of betrayal to our potential. Especially for a man who has spent his whole life looking up to the sky!"

So what would be acceptable innovation to a man like Mr. Rutan? Cure cancer, solve the global water crisis, or create a colony on Mars?

Once, I met a young man named Jack Andraka, who lost his uncle to pancreatic cancer. At age 15 he decided the test to show that his uncle had cancer should have detected it earlier. He contacted 199 doctors and scientists to help him create a test that would improve the detection process, but no one would.

So Jack decided it was up to him in his freshman biology class to create a solution. After pouring countless hours into his research, he created a sensor that is 168 times faster, 26,667 times less expensive, and 400 times more sensitive. More impressively, his sensor can identify the presence of the cancer-linked protein before the cancer actually becomes a serious problem. (Video of Jack's story on youtube: http://goo.gl/HkLh4b )

I get the impression this is the kind of innovation that would impress Mr. Rutan. My question is, how do you tackle something so large like being the first person to unlock the power of commercial space travel or reinvent early stage cancer detection?

Well, you simply make sure you have a part in 'cure' each night.

When I was at Mr. Rutan's house conducting a pre-interview for our Fireside Chat, he said something so unintentionally profound. "Every night you go to bed with something in 'cure' and after awhile, all of a sudden you realize... hey! I have a plane."

This was his response to "how is your new secret project coming along?" What I realized was that this was his way of saying, "You eat an elephant one bite at a time." Pick your vision, set your path, and every day take one step closer to it. May we all aspire to contribute to the world in a way that matters and maybe someday a few of us can impress someone so wise and truly innovative as Mr. Burt Rutan.

Coming up on March 4, stop in at The Cellar at 6 p.m. and hear from the inventors of the 3D IMAX camera, Marty and Barb Mueller. Their insight and wisdom about where true innovation and creativity comes from will pair nicely with your free beer or wine, compliments of Centennial Distributors.

Follow the Innovation Collective on Twitter @InnovateCDA or email us for more info at [email protected].

Up next: Meet the inventors of the IMAX 3D camera, 6 p.m. March 4 at The Cellar, 317 Sherman Ave. in downtown Coeur d'Alene.