15 Books on Innovation

15 Books on Innovation

Books in list (15)


Title: Innovation as Usual: How to Help Your People Bring Great Ideas to Life

Turn team members into innovators

Most organizations approach innovation as if it were a sideline activity. Every so often employees are sent to “Brainstorm Island”: an off-site replete with trendy lectures, creative workshops, and overenthusiastic facilitators. But once they return, it’s back to business as usual.

Innovation experts Paddy Miller and Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg suggest a better approach. They recommend that leaders at all levels become “innovation architects,” creating an ecosystem in which people engage in key innovation behaviors as part of their daily work.

In short, this book is about getting to a state of “innovation as usual,” where regular employees—in jobs like finance, marketing, sales, or operations—make innovation happen in a way that’s both systemic and sustainable.

Instead of organizing brainstorming sessions, idea jams, and off-sites that rarely result in success, leaders should guide their people in what the authors call the “5 + 1 keystone behaviors” of innovation: focus, connect, tweak, select, stealthstorm, (and the + 1) persist:

Focus beats freedom: Direct people to look only for ideas that matter to the business
Insight comes from the outside: Urge people to connect to new worlds
First ideas are flawed: Challenge people to tweak and reframe their initial ideas
Most ideas are bad ideas: Guide people to select the best ideas and discard the rest
Stealthstorming rules: Help people navigate the politics of innovation
Creativity is a choice: Motivate everyone to persist in the five keystone behaviors

Using examples from a wide range of companies such as Pfizer, Index Ventures, Lonza, Go Travel, Prehype, DSM, and others, Innovation as Usual lights the way toward embedding creativity in the DNA of the workplace.

So cancel that off-site. Instead, read Innovation as Usual—and put innovation at the core of your business.
Author(s): Paddy Miller
ISBN 13: 9781422144190
Pages: 240

Title: The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business

The Innovator’s Dilemma is the revolutionary business book that has forever changed corporate America. Based on a truly radical idea—that great companies can fail precisely because they do everything right—this Wall Street Journal, Business Week and New York Times Business bestseller is one of the most provocative and important business books ever written. Entrepreneurs, managers, and CEOs ignore its wisdom and its warnings at their great peril.
Author(s): Clayton M. Christensen
ISBN 13: 9780062060242
Pages: 336
This book is in (6) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change)

A Wall Street Journal and Businessweek bestseller. Named by Fast Company as one of the most influential leadership books in its Leadership Hall of Fame. An innovation classic. From Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos, Clay Christensen’s work continues to underpin today’s most innovative leaders and organizations. The bestselling classic on disruptive innovation, by renowned author Clayton M. Christensen. His work is cited by the world’s best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller—one of the most influential business books of all time—innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market leadership. Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. No matter the industry, he says, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know how and when to abandon traditional business practices. Offering both successes and failures from leading companies as a guide, The Innovator’s Dilemma gives you a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation. Sharp, cogent, and provocative—and consistently noted as one of the most valuable business ideas of all time—The Innovator’s Dilemma is the book no manager, leader, or entrepreneur should be without.
Author(s): Clayton M. Christensen
ISBN 13: 9781633691780
Pages: 288
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Innovation Zone: How Great Companies Re-Innovate for Amazing Success

For Steve Jobs and Bill Ford, Microsoft and 3M, a new business model of innovation has become the driving force behind their success. With strong leadership and a disciplined process, today’s leaders are creating more than great products—they are taking the role of innovation beyond R&D, placing it squarely at the center of the organization’s core competencies and changing the very nature of the customer experience. Packed with examples and stories about the way innovation takes place inside dozens of next-generation global organizations, The Innovation Zone takes a first-hand look behind the glitz of the latest gadgets to explore the methods, tools and behaviors that build increasing market value for the company, respect for the brand and long-term competitive dominance. This new playbook for developing and leading a culture of innovation debunks the traditional thinking that it all begins as a single invention or flash of insight. Instead, the author’s Innovation 2.0 framework, assessment tools and techniques and classic examples—from NASA and the space suit to the Sony Walkman and GM’s OnStar—demonstrate how the Seven Lessons of Innovation can be learned by any leader committed to creating a protected space where ideas are identified and evaluated, and championing the process throughout the organization.
Author(s): Thomas M. Koulopoulos
ISBN 13: 9781857885798
Pages: 228

Title: Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All

Ten years after the worldwide bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins returns withanother groundbreaking work, this time to ask: why do some companies thrive inuncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? Based on nine years of research,buttressed by rigorous analysis and infused with engaging stories, Collins andhis colleague Morten Hansen enumerate the principles for building a truly greatenterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous and fast-moving times. This book isclassic Collins: contrarian, data-driven and uplifting.
Author(s): Jim Collins
ISBN 13: 9780062120991
Pages: 320
This book is in (3) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

A powerful and penetrating exploration of what separates great companies and great leaders from the rest."
-Polly LaBarre, coauthor of Mavericks at Work

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty?

In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way-and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why.

Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire.

Author(s): Simon Sinek
ISBN 13: 9781591846444
Pages: 256
This book is in (8) other book lists, learn more.

Title: On Innovation

Every business needs to innovate, but few know where to start. ON Innovation, gives leaders seventy-two simple but powerful ideas they can use to create a more innovative organization. Drawing from his experience as founder and CEO at Travelocity.com and from the ten other startups where he’s worked, Jones helps readers turn innovation from an academic exercise into an everyday skill. The stories from his career and personal experiences provide well-chosen real world illustrations of how challenging, and ultimately rewarding, it can be to gather a team and establish a culture that is open to change and is committed to innovation as the way to do business. The short chapters seem to be perfectly tailored to today’s time crunched business leaders. It’s easy to envision readers doing what’s advised in “How To Read This Book”: opening it to a random chapter when they’re facing a challenge and drawing inspiration from wherever then land.
Author(s): Terry Jones
ISBN 13: 9780615684505
Pages: 220

Title: The Innovation Paradox: Why Good Businesses Kill Breakthroughs and How They Can Change

For more than twenty years, major innovations―the kind that transform industries and even societies―seem to have come almost exclusively from startups, despite massive efforts and millions of dollars spent by established companies. Tony Davila and Marc Epstein, authors of the bestselling Making Innovation Work, say the problem is that the very processes and structures responsible for established companies’ enduring success prevent them from developing breakthroughs. This is the innovation paradox. Most established companies succeed through incremental innovation―taking a product they’re known for and adding a feature here, cutting a cost there. Major breakthroughs are hard to achieve when everything about the way your organization is built and run is designed to reward making what already works work a little better. But incremental innovation can coexist with breakthrough thinking. Using examples from both scrappy startups and long-term innovators such as IBM, 3M, Apple, and Google, Davila and Epstein explain how corporate culture, leadership style, strategy, incentives, and management systems can be structured to encourage breakthroughs. Then they bring it all together in a new model called the Startup Corporation, which combines the philosophy of the startup with the experience, resources, and network of an established company. Breakthrough innovation no longer has to be the nearly exclusive province of the new kids on the block. With Davila and Epstein’s assistance, any company can develop paradigm-shifting products and services and maximize the ROI on its R&D.
Author(s): Tony Davila;Marc J. Epstein
ISBN 13: 9781609945534
Pages: 217

Title: Driven by Difference

Today's workforce is more diverse than ever before. But despite new perspectives and talents, the promise of increased innovation rarely materializes. Why are so few businesses seeing results? Studies show that diverse teams are more creative than homogenous ones--but only when they are managed effectively. The secret is to minimize conflict while maximizing the informational diversity found in varied values and experiences. To do this, both leaders and team members need a high level of cultural intelligence, or CQ. Drawing on success stories from Google, Alibaba, Novartis, and other groundbreaking companies, "Driven by Difference "identifies the management practices necessary to guide multicultural teams to innovation, including how to: Create an optimal environment - Build trust - Fuse differing perspectives - Align goals and expectations - Generate fresh ideas - Consider the various audiences when selecting and selling an idea - Design and test for different users Cultural differences can lead to gridlock, or they can catalyze innovation and growth. This research-based plan turns diversity's potential into economic reality.
Author(s): David Livermore;David Livermore PH. D.
ISBN 13: 9780814436530
Pages: 240

Title: The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas

How to get past the most common myths about creativity to design truly innovative strategies We tend to think of creativity in terms reminiscent of the ancient muses: divinely-inspired, unpredictable, and bestowed upon a lucky few. But when our jobs challenge us to be creative on demand, we must develop novel, useful ideas that will keep our organizations competitive. The Myths of Creativity demystifies the processes that drive innovation. Based on the latest research into how creative individuals and firms succeed, David Burkus highlights the mistaken ideas that hold us back and shows us how anyone can embrace a practical approach, grounded in reality, to finding the best new ideas, projects, processes, and programs. Answers questions such as: What causes us to be creative in one moment and void in the next? What makes someone more or less creative than his or her peers? Where do our flashes of creative insight come from, and how can we generate more of them? Debunks 10 common myths, including: the Eureka Myth; the Lone Creator Myth; the Incentive Myth; and The Brainstorming Myth Written by David Burkus, founder of popular leadership blog LDRLB For anyone who struggles with creativity, or who makes excuses for delaying the work of innovation, The Myths of Creativity will help you overcome your obstacles to finding new ideas.
Author(s): David Burkus
ISBN 13: 9781118611142
Pages: 224

Title: The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

From its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T-was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, it's hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasn't been touched by Bell Labs. In The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth century's most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of American history. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men-Mervin Kelly, Bill Shockley, Claude Shannon, John Pierce, and Bill Baker-who spent their careers at Bell Labs. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, Bell Labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and solutions to technological innovation. Here, after all, was where the foundational ideas on the management of innovation were born. Highlights achievements of Bell Labs as a leading innovator, exploring the role of its highly educated employees in developing new technologies while considering the qualities of companies where innovation and development are most ...
Author(s): Jon Gertner
ISBN 13: 9780143122791
Pages: 422

Title: The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

There isn't a business in America that doesn't want to be more innovative and creative in their thinking, products, and processes. At many companies, being first with a concept and first to market are critical just to survive. In The Art of Innovation, the general manager of the world-renowned design firm IDEO, Thomas Kelley, takes readers behind the scenes of this wildly imaginative and energized company to reveal the strategies and secrets it uses to turn out hit after hit.

IDEO doesn't believe in the myth of the lone genius working away in isolation, waiting for great ideas to strike. The fact is, as Kelley points out, everyone is creative, and the goal at IDEO is to tap into that wellspring of creativity among its employees. How does it do that? First, IDEO fosters an atmosphere conducive to freely expressing ideas, throwing out (most of) the standard rules, and freeing people to design their workspaces and environment to fit their personalities. It is IDEO's focus on teams that has resulted in its countless innovative breakthroughs—the constant give-and-take among people willing to share ideas and trust in the group process, dubbed "the deep dive" by IDEO. In entertaining anecdotes illustrating some of IDEO's own successes (and mistakes), as well as poineering efforts at other leading companies, Kelley shows how teams—usually in groups of twelve to twenty people—research and completely immerse themselves in every possible aspect of a concept or problem, examining it from the perspective of the companies they are designing for, from the perspective of safety, and from the perspective of consumers. In the course of the book, Kelley outlines the steps IDEO and other successful companies use to achieve successful problem solving:

  • Closely observing the behavior of the people who will be using a product or service—what Kelley calls the "anthropology of design," of which IDEO is a master
  • Brainstorming ideas
  • Prototyping designs and ideas at every stage
  • Using "cross-pollination" to find solutions to trickyproblems in other, unrelated products or fields
  • Setting frequent deadlines along the way to keep the momentum going
  • Fostering a climate of innovation, flexibility, and camaraderie
  • Taking risks, being unafraid of goofing up, and ultimately aiming for "good enough" rather than perfection

IDEO has won more awards in the last ten years than any other design firm, and a full half-hour Nightline presentation of its creative process received one of the highest ratings in the show's history. Total immersion in The Art of Innovation will provide business leaders with the insights and tools they need to make their companies the leading-edge, top-rated stars of their industries.

Author(s): Thomas Kelley
ISBN 13: 9780385499842
Pages: 320
This book is in (2) other book lists, learn more.

Title: The Lean Startup

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on validated learning, rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs - in companies of all sizes - a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it´s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.
Author(s): Eric Ries
ISBN 13: 9780307887894
Pages: 320
This book is in (8) other book lists, learn more.

Title: Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers (Collins Business Essentials)

The bible for bringing cutting-edge products to larger markets—now revised and updated with new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore shows that in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle—which begins with innovators and moves to early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards—there is a vast chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. While early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, the early majority waits until they know that the technology actually offers improvements in productivity. The challenge for innovators and marketers is to narrow this chasm and ultimately accelerate adoption across every segment. This third edition brings Moore's classic work up to date with dozens of new examples of successes and failures, new strategies for marketing in the digital world, and Moore's most current insights and findings. He also includes two new appendices, the first connecting the ideas in Crossing the Chasm to work subsequently published in his Inside the Tornado, and the second presenting his recent groundbreaking work for technology adoption models for high-tech consumer markets.
Author(s): Geoffrey A. Moore
ISBN 13: 9780062292988
Pages: 288
This book is in (3) other book lists, learn more.

 


Next book list: List of 40 Books on Private Equity >>