Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

by Gary P. Pisano

Overview

This myth-busting book shows large companies can construct a strategy, system, and culture of innovation that creates sustained growth.


Every company wants to grow, and the most proven way is through innovation. The conventional wisdom is that only disruptive, nimble startups can innovate; once a business gets bigger and more complex corporate arteriosclerosis sets in. Gary Pisano's remarkable research conducted over three decades, and his extraordinary on-the ground experience with big companies and fast-growing ones that have moved beyond the start-up stage, provides new thinking about how the scale of bigger companies can be leveraged for advantage in innovation.

He begins with the simply reality that bigger companies are, well, different. Demanding that they "be like Uber" is no more realistic than commanding your dog to speak French. Bigger companies are complex. They need to sustain revenue streams from existing businesses, and deal with Wall Street's demands. These organizations require a different set of management practices and approaches—a discipline focused on the strategies, systems and culture for taking their companies to the next level. Big can be beautiful, but it requires creative construction by leaders to avoid the creative destruction that is all-too-often the fate of too many.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610398770
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	01/15/2019
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	562,484
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Gary Pisano is one of the world's leading researchers in the fields of innovation, strategy, manufacturing, and competitiveness. He is the Harry E. Figgie Professor at Harvard Business School. His many awards include the prestigious McKinsey award for "Restoring American Competitiveness" for the best article published in the Harvard Business Review. Dr. Pisano is also an entrepreneur; the cofounder, along with chemistry Nobel Laureate Richard Schrock, of XiMo AG, a developer of specialty catalysts for the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industries, and View of Cortina, an importer of fine textiles for the home decoration market.

For more information, visit www.gpisano.com.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Innovation's Catch-22 1

Part I Creating an Innovation Strategy 19

1 Beginning the Journey: The Discipline and Focus of an Innovation Strategy 21

2 Navigating the Route: Creating Your Innovation Portfolio 37

3 Whatever Happened to Blockbuster?: Competing Through Business Model Innovation 57

4 Is the Party Really Over?: Why You Should Not Always Eat Your Own Lunch 85

Part II Designing the Innovation System 109

5 Venturing Outside Your Home Court: Search: Discovering Novel Problems and Solutions 111

6 Synthesis: Bringing the Pieces Together 129

7 When to Hold 'Em and When to Fold 'Em: Uncertainty, Ambiguity, and the Art and Science of Selecting Projects 153

Part III Building the Culture 179

8 The Paradox of Innovative Cultures: Why It's Not All Fun and Games 181

9 Leaders as Cultural Architects: Reengineering the Cultural DNA of an Enterprise 197

10 Becoming a Creative Constructive Leader 217

Notes 225

Bibliography 241

Index 253

Editorial Reviews

11/12/2018
Pisano, senior associate dean for faculty development at Harvard Business School, convincingly argues that startups don’t have a stranglehold on innovation. Large companies, contrary to the view of some, can innovate, he writes, but they must approach doing so differently. Pisano asserts that “through systematically creating an innovation strategy, designing an innovation system, and building an innovation culture,” large organizations can spark the creativity they seek. He cites numerous instances of successful and innovative transformation by corporate behemoths, namely Amazon, Apple, Bell Labs, IBM, and Monsanto. While these examples, he states, prove that innovation is not incompatible with size, it doesn’t mean that it is easily achieved. Pisano explores how to go about creating an innovation strategy, emphasizing the organizational discipline needed to develop a plan and map opportunities. He also offers strategies for staving off competitors—such as by focusing on ideas that aren’t easily imitated—and stresses the importance of finding new opportunities outside of a company’s core business. Pisano is particularly insightful on dealing with the uncertain initial stage of selecting one particular project to pursue from among different options. He concludes with possibly the trickiest task: creating the right culture for nurturing innovation. Incisive and relevant, Pisano’s primer will give executives much to consider. Agent: Danny Stern, Stern Assoc. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Above all, Pisano is wise and well travelled enough to recognise that while successful innovation is not the exclusive province of small companies, it is never easy. To become a creative constructive enterprise means getting strategy, systems and culture right, which in turn requires leadership throughout the organisation."— Financial Times, A Best Business Book of the Month, January 2019


"In this deeply informed book, [Pisano] describes how large enterprises can succeed at transformative innovation... Especially valuable is the author's discussion of problems faced by multidivisional companies whose expertise is dispersed in independent silos that prevent them from bringing ideas together to exploit opportunities. Sony, for example, was a consumer electronics leader but lacked capacity for integrating its existing knowledge; Apple beat it in developing portable electronic devices. Pisano also examines DuPont's invention of Kevlar,
intended as a solution to a tire problem but most effective in stopping a bullet... A useful manual for fostering a sustainable culture of change."— Kirkus Reviews

"Incisive and relevant, Pisano's primer will give executives much to consider."— Publishers Weekly

"I really loved this book. Larger companies have so many opportunities to innovate both in technology and business models. The problem isn't scale, but with management practice and mindset; how do we think about, manage, or be smart about it? While it is hard to strike the balance between short-term needs and committing resources to bigger, but unknown changes, it is critical. Gary P. Pisano addresses many issues that can help improve support and strategy for change."— Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, author of Creativity, Inc.

"Innovation is the heart of economic progress. Creative Construction provides the intellectual framework to understand it, and describes the leadership, strategy, culture, and skills for it to occur in well-resourced large organizations. Along the way, these ideas are beautifully brought to life by examples from the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution to the current era of the FAANGS-Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google."
— Conor Kehoe, McKinsey & Company

"Finally, a book that speaks to me and, actually, any leader in a business that has been around for more than a few years on how we can creatively use our scale for innovation. The next time you hear people opining that innovation is the province of the nimble startup, have them sit down and start reading Creative Construction."
— Joseph Hinrichs, president of global operations, Ford Motor

"In this highly engaging book, Pisano's starting point is the uncomfortable truth that innovation is difficult-sometimes very difficult-to achieve and sustain. Pisano is equally compelling and clear in explaining how companies can evolve their understanding of and approach to innovation, and come to see it not as something ethereal, random, or near-magical, but as the natural outcome of a set of efforts focused on culture, organization, and the bringing together of mindsets and ideas in creative ways. Any entrepreneur or company executive who wants to build a vibrant, innovation-driven business will profit from Pisano's lucid exposition and enjoy his accessible and humorous prose."
— Noubar Afeyan, PhD and chief executive officer, Flagship Pioneering

"This is not just another book focusing on technical innovation. While Pisano shows concrete examples of innovation in business models, he systematically approaches the fundamental concept of business innovation in the real world. If you are an executive, or a rising leader seeking innovation in your business, Pisano's book offers significant and practical insight for your future strategy and its implementation."
— Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company

"Refreshingly practical in its emphasis on the very difficult 'how-to' of creating value through innovation, while staying grounded in the larger theoretical considerations of strategy, organization and leadership."
— Vicki L Sato, advisor to life science companies and retired president, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

From the Publisher

2018-10-02

How big companies can innovate.

The economist Joseph Schumpeter said companies sow the seeds of their own "creative destruction"—and lose their original purpose—when they innovate. Not so, writes Pisano (Business Administration/Harvard Business School; Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech, 2006, etc.). In this deeply informed book, he describes how large enterprises can succeed at transformative innovation by "systematically creating an innovation strategy, designing an innovation system, and building an innovation culture." He goes on, "big does not always mean ugly. Scale alone is not an impediment to innovative capacity." Nor is acquisition the only road to growth. Even so, innovation is hard work, "akin to renovating a home while living in it." The key is leadership prepared to "exploit" scale; size and age matter far less. Drawing on research and his own consulting experiences, Pisano explains how companies from IBM to Apple have innovated successfully by building their capabilities, identifying unmet customer needs, and working in familiar or unknown terrain, or both, to achieve goals. Driven by his use of vivid examples, the narrative covers the types of innovation, from routine (ready-to-eat salad) to outside the home court (Honda creates HondaJet) to disruptive business model (Uber vs. traditional taxis); details what goes into them; and urges companies to pursue a balanced portfolio of approaches. Especially valuable is the author's discussion of problems faced by multidivisional companies whose expertise is dispersed in independent silos that prevent them from bringing ideas together to exploit opportunities. Sony, for example, was a consumer electronics leader but lacked capacity for integrating its existing knowledge; Apple beat it in developing portable electronic devices. Pisano also examines DuPont's invention of Kevlar, intended as a solution to a tire problem but most effective in stopping a bullet. "Kevlar, it turns out, is a great solution to many problems, just not the particular problem DuPont was focused on solving," he writes.

A useful manual for fostering a sustainable culture of change.

Kirkus Reviews

02/01/2019

Pisano's (Harvard Business Sch.; coauthor, Producing Prosperity) latest book follows works such as Peter F. Drucker's Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Clayton M. Christensen's The Innovators Dilemma in studying business innovation, strategy, and implementation. What sets Pisano apart is his ability to incorporate contemporary examples alongside academic constructs he has discovered and utilized based on his observations as a consultant. Pisano acknowledges that great strides in innovation do not always translate into success. There are, indeed, paradoxes. While discussing the various strategies for pursuing innovation, the author highlights the need for a corporate culture that can both tolerate failure and eradicate incompetence. The main strength of the work is Pisano's underscoring of innovation as a human activity that calls for attuned management. VERDICT A worthy read for management consultants, executives, and business strategists.—Steven Silkunas, Fernandina Beach, FL

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