★★★★★ 5
The Innovator's DNA - Disruptive Research - Disruptive Writing
A Politically Correct Status Quo
It is politically correct in management circles to say that you are "results oriented" or that you "drive for results" in your organization.
The status quo in business schools is to indoctrinate students in the delivery skills of analyzing, planning, detail-oriented implementing, and disciplined executing.
This book and the research upon which it is based disrupts that politically correct status quo.
Clayton Christensen has spent close to two decades creating the research, conceptual, and application foundation of the disruptive innovation body of knowledge. He has been working for more than 8 years with Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen, both gifted researchers, teachers, and consultants in their own right, on this project. These guys are a disruptive "dream team" of contributors.
This book articulates an extension of the disruptive innovation body of knowledge that clearly describes an individual profile of the disruptive innovator and an organizational profile of an organization that makes disruptive innovation happen.
So what makes this book disruptive?
The first thing is timing. It arrives on the scene at a time when innovation is one of the most critical components of a solution to our global financial and organizational mess. If we are to get out of our morass of debt and sluggish growth and respond to the continually emerging challenges of a burgeoning global society it will ride on the backs and wings of innovation. The status quo must be disrupted for us to survive and thrive!
Second is the audacity of the core models. The authors claim that innovation can be learned at both the individual and organizational level. Individuals can increase their ability to discover (Discovery Quotient - DQ) and learn to be more innovative. They cite the four specific behavioral skills of asking questions, engaging in observations, networking with people who have a different point of view, and experimenting to figure out what can work as the common elements of what innovators do. They also identify the cognitive skill of associational thinking, the ability to find connections between ideas that do not seem to be related to each other, as the connection between the behavioral skills and the generation of ideas. They extend their claim that the innovation competency can be learned to the organizational domain by saying that organizations can become more innovative through developing and leading people, designing and implementing processes, and advocating and living by philosophies that support innovation. These two arguments stand in stark contrast to the beliefs and practices of a vast majority of leaders and institutions.
(For a diagram of the Model see [...])
'And all of this is built upon the third source of disruption: research. Their work is based on well-founded research into the "DNA" of the world's leading innovators and the world's most innovative organizations. The authors conducted nearly 100 interviews of world class innovators and their colleagues to get at the heart of what innovators do. They also interviewed and surveyed executives who are not innovators. (Their survey data base has over 5000 respondents in it.) So they have been able to compare and contrast the two populations to more clearly see what it takes to effectively innovate.
They have also done research on business results attributable to innovation. Collaborating with HOLT (a division of Credit Suisse) they were able to craft a measurement called the "innovation premium." This measure identifies if an organization's market capitalization can be accounted for by existing cash flows or if there is an innovation influence on the stock price. By using this measure, they have been able to clearly and objectively identify which organizations are benefiting from innovation.
Yet to Explore
The tension in the balance of influence and power between the leaders with predominantly "Discovery" or "Delivery" mindsets is an area that has yet to be explored. If the premises of this book are sound, and I believe they are, we need to figure out how to manage that tension and balance in order to generate, incubate, and strengthen innovative ideas as we bring them to full fruition in the marketplace. Great ideas that are not delivered upon are simply recreational pursuits that do not build great people, great institutions, and great societies. So there is work yet to do.
Invest Your Time and Effort
This book makes a significant contribution to both the disruptive innovation body of knowledge and the evolving body of practice on innovating disruptively. It is well worth reading, pondering, and acting upon.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2011
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