Get back that innovation mojo!
"Innovation is all about taming the unknown. In large companies, the unknown often goes unfunded. Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire arms you with the case studies you need to go from random spark to a steady burn."
—Steve Faktor, Vice President, Business Growth and Innovation, American Express
"Innovation is essential for the long-term success of companies. Braden Kelley provides individuals, organizations, and companies with a very powerful matchbox (tools and insights) to vigorously light their innovation bonfires! A must-read."
—Chris Thoen, Managing Director, Global Open Innovation Office, Procter & Gamble
The essential guide for jump-starting your business's innovation process, Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire helps you regain the innovation superpowers that made your organization successful in the first place.
Take a look inside and discover:
Find out how vision, strategy, and goals combine to set the stage for successful innovation. Remove the roadblocks to innovation preventing your organization from creating sustainable growth and change. It's time to get back that innovation mojo—start now, with the wealth of strategies and tactics found in Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire.
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction 1
About the Companion Web Site 5
Part I Setting the Stage 7
Chapter 1 Blinded by the Light: Vision Blockages 9
Overview 9
Innovation Vision Example (Alcatel-Lucent) 11
Innovation Vision Example (Kuwait Petroleum Corporation) 12
There Is No Single innovation Vision 13
Innovation Vision Case Study Ford Motor Company 14
Innovation Vision Case Study Hewlett-Packard 16
Innovation Vision Case Study Apple Computer 16
Innovation Vision Case Study Nintendo 18
Innovation Vision Case Study Walmart versus Amazon 18
Innovation Vision Case Study Intel versus AMD, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA 19
Bringing It All Together 20
Chapter 2 Peering in the Dark: Strategy Blockages 23
Overview 23
Strategy Must Be Based in Reality 24
Two Sources of Innovation, One Innovation Strategy 25
Time as a Component of Innovation Strategy 25
Innovation Strategy Case Study The Whirlpool Example 26
Innovation Case Study Open Innovation at Procter & Gamble 28
Not Just for Corporations 28
Innovation Maturity 30
Incremental versus Disruptive Innovation 32
Innovation Portfolios 33
Open Innovation 34
Bringing It All Together 35
Chapter 3 Setting a Course Blindfolded: Goal Blockages 37
Overview 37
The Purpose of Innovation Goals 38
The Influence of Customer Permissions and Visual Frameworks on Your Innovation Strategy and Goals 39
Setting Your Innovation Goals 39
Bringing It All Together 40
Part II The Innovation Engine 43
Chapter 4 What Are They Really Thinking?: Insight Blockages 45
Overview 45
Four Lenses of Innovation 46
Broadcasting the Voice of the Customer 46
Trend Spotting, Behaviors, and Needs 48
Insights and Execution 50
Insights Case Study Apple iPhone 51
Insights Case Study Apple iPad 52
Are You Innovating for the Past or the Future? 56
Bringing It All Together 58
Chapter 5 Shining a Light on the Customer Problem: Idea Generation Blockages 59
Overview 59
Generating Ideas 60
Idea Quantity 61
Idea Quality 62
Better Brainstorming 62
The Idea Generation S-Curve 63
The Nine Innovation Roles 64
Bringing It All Together 66
Chapter 6 Picking a Winner Without Looking: Idea Evaluation Blockages 67
Overview 68
You Get What You Measure 68
Separate But Equal 69
Idea Evaluation Checklist 69
Idea Challenges 71
Parallel Idea Evaluation in a Serial World 71
Saying No in the Right Way 72
The Importance of "Not Now" 73
Bringing It All Together 74
Chapter 7 Going to Market Blind: Idea Commercialization Blockages 77
Overview 77
Useful or Valuable 78
Slow Innovation 79
Slow Innovation Case Study The iPod 79
Slow Innovation Case Study The VCR 83
Slow Innovation Case Study The Internet 83
Slow Innovation Case Study Southwest Airlines 84
Slow Innovation Conclusion 84
Idea Commercialization Stories Apple Designs a "No!" 85
Lessons Learned 86
Bringing It All Together 87
Part III The Organization 89
Chapter 8 Have You Had an Innovation Lobotomy?: Organizational Psychology Blockages 91
Overview 91
What Are You Afraid Of? 92
The Impact of Culture 92
Organizational Hierarchy of Needs 93
Breaking Out of the Mold 95
Choose Your Own Hours A Case Study in Flexibility 96
Bringing It All Together 97
Chapter 9 Do Your Policies and Processes Keep People in the Dark?: Information and Structural Blockages 99
Overview 100
Some Secrets of Continuous Innovation Are Nothing New 101
Should They Call Them Silos or Bunkers? 103
Get Your Hands Off My Bonus 104
A Case Study in Breaking Down Information and Structural Barriers Cisco 104
Another Case Study GE and Reverse Innovation 106
Bringing It All Together 108
Chapter 10 Keeping the Lights On: Sustainability Blockages 109
Overview 109
Who Innovates? 110
Innovating in a Crisis 111
Innovation Is Not a Project 111
If You Want Systemic Innovation, You Need Systems to Manage It 112
Innovation versus Flexibility 114
Managing Innovation Is About Managing Change A Case Study 115
Purpose and Passion 119
Blogging Innovation as a Case Study in Passion 119
Passion versus Obsession 120
Innovation Is Social 121
Bringing It All Together 123
Epilogue 125
Appendix A Customer Exploration 131
Appendix B Visual Frameworks for Guiding Your Innovation Efforts 139
Appendix C The Innovation Baker's Dozen 161
Bibliography 175
About the Author 179
Index 181
Business strategist Braden Kelley says innovation starts with a vision, a strategy and a goal. A new idea by itself does not constitute an innovation; innovation is how you implement the idea to generate value. Readers familiar with the subject will see that few of Kelley’s ideas are brand new, but they’ll appreciate his accessible synthesis, which is immediately applicable and easy to follow. getAbstract recommends Kelley’s brief book to anyone interested in innovation and especially to those who are new to the field or skeptical about their ability to generate positive change.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.DrewCM
Posted October 15, 2010
The book's natural progression from vision and strategy through to organization psychology and innovating under crisis conditions makes this a useful guide to keep at hand as you continue on your innovation journey. Braden notes, and I wholeheartedly agree, that there are fundamentals without which you will not be successful. He clearly describes the challenges and offers sensible solutions for addressing them. His approach is to create the culture and systems and processes that will support innovation for the long-term. Perhaps one of my favorite sections is titled "Saying No in the Right Way." So many times I have seen the passion of innovators in organizations run aground on the negativity attendant with the strategic (and sometimes, not-so-strategic) decision-making surrounding which opportunities to pursue and which to abandon. Braden addresses the ego inherent in people sharing and evaluating their ideas in a public domain. He also notes that sometimes the smartest people in the room have the least capability to explain or develop their ideas in order to make their invention an innovation reality. The approach he recommends is to foster trust by understanding the skills that people bring to the table before you go down the innovation road as well as set clear expectations for the process of selection. All of which requires preparation... This readily accessible offering is focused on getting the fundamentals of innovation right. It directly addressed key obstacles that cripple innovation in organizations, regardless of their initial innovation successes.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Einsteindiva
Posted October 3, 2010
Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire is a non-stop enjoyable ride. Braden Kelley has truly captured the essence of how to work with innovation, not only in a theoretical but also in a practical way. The author's holistic approach on how to build and diffuse visions, strategies, goals and insights throughout the organization is an excellent example on how to implement and create an organizational culture where all employees participate to make their organization to become more innovative
Mr. Kelley delivers the proper medicine on how to overcome typical organizational blockages to innovation, which can be found within a company's vision, strategy, goals and insights
All the useful "hands on" strategies and real-life examples lifts the book to a higher dimension.
Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire is a great resource for both experts and novice in the field of innovation. Add this book to your collection and you will have a tool that helps your organization make innovation sustainable.
Deb_Mills-Scofield
Posted September 28, 2010
With the plethora of books coming out on innovation, Braden Kelley's "Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire" is one you must get, read, mark up, and share. It is easy for anyone, from layman to expert, to read and understand, adopt and adapt. Braden provides readers with a toobox for innovation. The book provides practical, usable, adaptable tools for creating a (more) innovative culture in your own organization, regardless of size, shape and scope. There are guides, checklists, and real world examples from many industries. The approach is holistic, detailing the changes innovation makes to and for your customers, employees, suppliers, distribution system, marketing, sales and operations. Not many books provide such a thorough value-chain analysis. But more than that, Braden addresses the harder issues around innovation - the 'soft' stuff. Very few books give the time and attention to the people and culture issues which are the hardest and most critical to success. The book has several sections about culture - how to get people engaged and stay engaged, how important trust is, how innovation is a social activity and even how your policies and procedures need to change to encourage innovation, with concrete examples instead of theory. If you're interested in really making innovation an integral part of your organization, then "Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire" is a must have that you will use over and over again and will remain a constant source of reference.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Overview
Get back that innovation mojo!
"Innovation is all about taming the unknown. In large companies, the unknown often goes unfunded. Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire arms you with the case studies you need to go from random spark to a steady burn."
—Steve Faktor, Vice President, Business Growth and Innovation, American Express
"Innovation is essential for the long-term success of companies. Braden Kelley provides individuals, organizations, and ...