Comments on: A Look Beneath the Silver Lining http://completeinnovator.com/2009/07/24/a-look-beneath-the-silver-lining/ Ideas and Best Practices on Innovation, Collaboration, and Social Media Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:45:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Boris Pluskowski http://completeinnovator.com/2009/07/24/a-look-beneath-the-silver-lining/#comment-149 Boris Pluskowski Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:55:20 +0000 http://completeinnovator.com/?p=459#comment-149 Hi Steve Whilst I wouldn't necessarily say that the book focuses on innovation at large companies, the majority of the book does indeed focus on corporate innovation strategy and as such is of most use to managers at any size company. However - there are also significant chunks of the book (Chapter 8 - Drive Personal Reinvention - springs to mind) that looks at individual behaviors and how to begin developing the skills needed to master the new paradoxes that innovation places on you (needing to be precise, but encourage creativity; exist because of big business, but the future is in the small business; data drives present day decision making, but i need intuition in making future decisions; etc). He refers several times to the challenge that F. Scott Fitzgerald laid down in 1935 that "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the same mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function". He does then also go into how you can strengthen the necessary "innovation muscles" - with tips on how to become better at questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking - but, as i previously mentioned in my review, this is one of those parts that reads more like a literary review of the research out there - in this case, the research and tips come from Jeffrey Dyer and Hal Gregersen of Brigham Young and INSEAD respectively. However - it is an excellent review, thorough, well put together - and, I imagine, much easier of a read than the original papers :) Hope that answers your question! Boris Hi Steve

Whilst I wouldn’t necessarily say that the book focuses on innovation at large companies, the majority of the book does indeed focus on corporate innovation strategy and as such is of most use to managers at any size company.

However – there are also significant chunks of the book (Chapter 8 – Drive Personal Reinvention – springs to mind) that looks at individual behaviors and how to begin developing the skills needed to master the new paradoxes that innovation places on you (needing to be precise, but encourage creativity; exist because of big business, but the future is in the small business; data drives present day decision making, but i need intuition in making future decisions; etc). He refers several times to the challenge that F. Scott Fitzgerald laid down in 1935 that “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the same mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function”.

He does then also go into how you can strengthen the necessary “innovation muscles” – with tips on how to become better at questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking – but, as i previously mentioned in my review, this is one of those parts that reads more like a literary review of the research out there – in this case, the research and tips come from Jeffrey Dyer and Hal Gregersen of Brigham Young and INSEAD respectively. However – it is an excellent review, thorough, well put together – and, I imagine, much easier of a read than the original papers :)

Hope that answers your question!

Boris

]]> By: Steve Todd http://completeinnovator.com/2009/07/24/a-look-beneath-the-silver-lining/#comment-148 Steve Todd Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:34:25 +0000 http://completeinnovator.com/?p=459#comment-148 Hi Boris, Much of the book seems to focus on innovation at large corporations, which often have a small percentage of managers and executives (10-15%), and a huge percentage of employees that need to do the actual work (85-90%). Do the techniques in the book address the individual behaviors required from the majority of employees (the ones that aren't part of the management team)? Hi Boris,
Much of the book seems to focus on innovation at large corporations, which often have a small percentage of managers and executives (10-15%), and a huge percentage of employees that need to do the actual work (85-90%). Do the techniques in the book address the individual behaviors required from the majority of employees (the ones that aren’t part of the management team)?

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