Recommended reading on Innovation
The week before last some of my team members attended the “4th Annual Innovations in New Product Development and Marketing” event in San Diego. The goal of the event was to bring together product development and innovation executives to exchange best practices and strategies to grow their business through customer-driven innovation. Chuck Davis, one of our Regional Directors of Open Innovation Solutions, hosted a lunch table of leaders in product development. Chuck asked the group what books they would recommend to anyone interested in innovation thought leadership. He got a great list of books that I wanted to share with you:
Are you reading any good books that you would recommend?
Meg
Tags: innovation books, product development
June 26th, 2008 at 6:32 am
I want to recommend the book Freakonomics. 100% breakthrough thinking.
In Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-Revised-Expanded-Economist-Everything/dp/0061234001/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214477997&sr=1-1
June 27th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Thanks for the recommendation – I will check it out.
Meg
June 27th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Great Addition Marcos. Well written I hear – I listened to the audio book – It certainly encourages you to think about everyday things more critically and not just accept the conventional wisdom.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Hello everyone,
I would like to recommend two books written on innovation, the author is Clayton Christensen. He did an interesting research and found that (most) companies have a “finite” life cycle and at some point they just go out of business, regardless of how successful or smart their executives are. Those companies reach a stage in which it is difficult for them to see innovations and are usually “disrupted” by new entrants. Actually, the concept is called “Disruptive Innovation”. Examples? Sure, several: Digital Equipment, US Steel, Wang.
Perhaps Microsoft is being disrupted by Google today and it will never be what it used to be in the 1990’s? Interestingly, Microsoft never “saw” the Internet coming and despite its huge investments on that, it just doesn’t have a viable model… yet.
Ok, the books are:
1) The Innovator’s Dilemma.
2) The Innovator’s Solution.
If you don’t have time to read both, the second one is the book managers an business people (like me) need. Practical approach and full of smart strategies to avoid being disrupted!
Regards,
Javier
August 8th, 2009 at 11:45 am
This is a great list.
One thing I would add: A key strategy in innovation is not to get entrenched in any one particular mindset/outlook.
With that in mind, I would recommend 365 Ways to Change the World by Michael Norton.
It’s doesn’t bill itself as an innovation guidebook, but that could be what makes it particularly valuable – the competition is probably not reading it. It’s full of great ideas with wide application that might push corporate leaders’ thinking beyond the usual boundaries, and do a bit for their CSR at the same time!