Innovation as Usual

<b>Turn team members into innovators</b> <p/>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. <p/>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. <p/>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. <p/>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: <p/>- <b>Focus beats freedom</b>: Direct people to look only for ideas that matter to the business<br>- <b>Insight comes from the outside</b>: Urge people to connect to new worlds<br>- <b>First ideas are flawed</b>: Challenge people to tweak and reframe their initial ideas<br>- <b>Most ideas are bad ideas</b>: Guide people to select the best ideas and discard the rest<br>- <b>Stealthstorming rules</b>: Help people navigate the politics of innovation<br>- <b>Creativity is a choice</b>: Motivate everyone to persist in the five keystone behaviors <p/>Using examples from a wide range of companies such as Pfizer Index Ventures Lonza Go Travel Prehype DSM and others <i>Innovation as Usual</i> lights the way toward embedding creativity in the DNA of the workplace. <p/>So cancel that off-site. Instead read <i>Innovation as Usual</i>--and put innovation at the core of your business.<br>