Innovative Writings on Innovation

So many questions and opinions and even passions swirl around the topic of innovation. Is it an outcome? No, it’s a process. Is innovation what we do? No, it’s who we are. Are innovation and creativity the same? What about innovation and invention? Open innovation, connected innovation, innovation ecosystems, innovation marketplaces, innovation centers, the art of innovation, the science of innovation . . . sometimes it seems that the most innovative activity in the world is thinking up different variations on the theme of innovation.

In the continuing (and innovative?) tradition of Enterprising Investor contributors (see Henneman, Packard, Voss, VanDeren, and Rimkus) sharing books they have found to be the most enlightening and entertaining on a variety of topics, what follows are brief descriptions of five very different but interesting looks at innovation. Each has contributed richly, albeit sometimes uncomfortably, to my own evolving view of innovation, both individually and within an organizational setting.

Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business by Luke Williams

“Think what no one else is thinking, and do what no one else is doing” is Williams’s mantra for disruptive innovation. Drawing on his career as creative director at Frog Design (which has worked extensively with Apple, Microsoft, and Dell, among others, over the years), Williams has refined a five-stage process for disruptive thinking. Replete with memorable snippets — “Be wrong at the start to be right at the end” and “Figure out a way to be the only one who does what you do, or die” — his book is an entertaining and practical peek into an innovator’s mindset. Reading it and subsequently attending his executive education courses has helped me more than any other single influence to think about innovation as a perspective and process that can be learned, practiced, and imparted.

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson

Filling a gap in the innovation landscape, Steven Johnson explores the historical context of a plethora of innovative products. He uses such concepts as the adjacent possible, liquid networks, the slow hunch, and exaptation to illustrate the conditions that have fostered creative thinking and innovative product development. Along the way, Johnson explores numerous fascinating individuals and companies in what the Oregonian rightly called “a magical mystery tour of the history and architecture of innovation.” His accounts of the pre-9/11 failure to connect important hunches and the coffeehouse model of creativity are particularly compelling.

The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan

“Innovation is not a mystical act; it is a journey that can be plotted, and done over and over again,” A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan write. They explore that journey, based extensively on Lafley’s experience at Procter & Gamble, but also draw from other examples, such as Honeywell, LEGO, GE, and DuPont. They show that when innovation is embedded in an organization’s DNA, innovative thinking applies not only to new products but also to processes, tools, practices, and logistics. The innovation journey builds on a number of key principles, including the notion of innovation as a team sport, the necessity of integrating innovation into the routines of the organization, and especially the primacy of the customer and consumer as the true “boss” of the organization. (Jeffrey Immelt is quoted as saying, “Innovation without a customer is nonsense; it’s not even innovation.”) Finally, the authors pull no punches about the importance of innovation: “The company that fails to innovate consistently, and elegantly, will fail.”

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims

Drawing on varied examples including Chris Rock, Jeff Bezos, Pixar, Starbucks, and the US Army in Iraq, Peter Sims explores the concept of experimental innovation — using trial-and-error iterative approaches to drive to great breakthroughs. Although the concept may sound random and perhaps even unfocused, Sims goes to great lengths to emphasize that little bets are, in his words, “concrete actions taken to discover, test, and develop ideas that are achievable and affordable.” The method is decidedly not, however, “like throwing spaghetti against a wall.” Ken Robinson has famously said, “We are educating people out of their creativity.” Sims’s book is a call to place creativity and experimentation in the very center of innovative design and development.

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki

Early in this book, Guy Kawasaki, former Apple chief product evangelist, defines enchantment as the process of delighting people with a product, service, organization, or idea. He explores a rich variety of enchantment components — highlighting likability and trustworthiness, overcoming resistance, using technology, and even resisting enchantment charlatans. What does all of this have to do with innovation? In fact, the word “innovation” doesn’t even appear in the book’s index. For me, Kawasaki clearly articulates a business mindset focused laser-like on the customer, nowadays termed “customer-centric.” That customer-centricity seems often to be missing in traditional approaches to innovation. As the subtitle indicates, enchantment is also all about changing people’s hearts, minds, and actions, which speaks to the resistance faced by many innovators. Kawasaki saves the most enchanting section of the book for the very end, when he recounts the fascinating process behind the cover of this book.

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All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

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