Breaking Away – The Mysteries of Innovation
Breaking Away – The Mysteries of Innovation
Every company knows that in order to generate sustainable growth it must innovate. Unfortunately knowing it is one thing, making it happen is a different story, especially for large corporations. Unwieldy in size, tethered to a profit driven model and constrained by internally focused structures, many of today’s companies are poorly equipped to effectively mold and manage true innovation. There are two reasons for this—lack of understanding and unprepared leadership.
Innovation isn’t just the decade’s hottest topic, it’s a business imperative. It’s that elusive elixir that must be found to achieve sustainable growth and drive shareholder value.
Breaking Away: How Great Leaders Create Innovation That Drives Sustainable Growth – And Why Others Fail is the first book to unveil the mysteries of innovation—how to define it, lead it and ultimately, activate it to drive profitable, long term top line growth. Based on decades of author experience, research and interviews with dozens of leaders from companies like GE, Estee Lauder, MasterCard, Pitney Bowes, J & J, Humana, Campbell Soup and Ford, it reveals fresh insights and an elegant new model for innovation that will change the way great leaders lead and businesses thrive for years to come.
There have been books written on innovation and books written on leadership but this is the first one to bridge the gap. Penned for those who lead, participate in or dream about innovation, it leaves only one question unanswered “Are you ready to Break Away?”
KEY INSIGHTS
Innovation: When most of us think of innovation we think huge—light bulb or Internet huge. While it’s a noble ambition to seek something that will transform the world, the fact is, few will succeed. That doesn’t mean innovation is beyond reach—far from it, because there’s not just one kind of innovation—there’s four. In our model, three additional classes of innovation join Transformational. Category, Marketplace and Operational Innovation each offers tremendous breakthrough opportunities, to revolutionize an industry, a market, or the company itself. Any company who wants to thrive needs to be continually engaged in them all.
Leadership: Along with the four types of Innovation, there are also four kinds of Innovation leadership, ranging from the discovery oriented transformational leader, to the detailed oriented operational leader. If you have the wrong person for the job you’re doomed. To find the best fit, you have to know what makes these leaders tick. We’ll introduce groundbreaking profiles for all four leadership types and the ideal environments that help them thrive. We also devote an entire chapter to the CEO. It ends with a passionate letter from employees with insights on what people really want for themselves, their company and their leaders. It’s an eye-opener every executive must read.
The Payoff: It’s amazing how many companies, after spending millions of dollars developing an idea, fail to bring it home. They fail because of timing, poor insight, lack of agility, and sometimes just sheer arrogance. The prize belongs to whoever can engage, excite and activate employees and customers, not only to want to follow that company, but to become its biggest fan. In the final chapters of Breaking Away, we tell you how to rally the troops, and create an Innovation Activation Plan that will set your company up for the real payoff—sustainable growth.
Are you ready to Break Away? http://breakingawaythebook.com/index.html
Purchase the book… http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Away-Innovation-Sustainable-Growth/dp/007175394X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299044712&sr=1-1
Pamela Day