book, innovation

Two books on innovation

I recently read two books on the topic of innovation, both were intriguing with interesting examples. First book is The Innovation Mindset: Eight Essential Steps to Transform Any Industry where Lorraine Marchand using share her experience and ideas on this topics. Second book is The Game Of Innovation: Conquer Challenges | Level Up Your Team | Play to Win where David Cutler gives his approach in building innovation games, Here are the descriptions:

THE INNOVATION MINDSET: Eight Essential Steps To Transform Any Industry – written by business strategy expert Lorraine Marchand where she reveals eight laws for making an innovative idea a reality. 

Drawing on Marchand’s three decades as an innovator to startups and Fortune 500 corporations, the book is a how-to guide to help aspiring entrepreneurs, startups, and those working in a corporate environment, learn the process of developing new products and bringing them to market. “I wrote THE INNOVATION MINDSET to share my experiences, observations and expertise as an innovator, educator, and consultant to help anybody who has a good idea for a new product, service, and wants to see it reach the marketplace,” says Marchand.

MARCHAND’S EIGHT LAWS OF INNOVATION

Veteran Business Strategist Outlines How To Spur And Accelerate Innovation

In the wake of the pandemic, innovation is occurring at a dizzying pace and the market is responding positively. But the reality is 95% of new ideas and products fail because people don’t understand how to get their idea to the marketplace. In THE INNOVATION MINDSET: Eight Essential Steps To Transform Any Industry, business strategy expert Lorraine Marchand reveals eight laws for making an innovative idea a reality. 

Drawing on Marchand’s three decades as an innovator to startups and Fortune 500 corporations, the book is a how-to guide to help aspiring entrepreneurs, startups, and those working in a corporate environment, learn the process of developing new products and bringing them to market. “I wrote THE INNOVATION MINDSET to share my experiences, observations and expertise as an innovator, educator, and consultant to help anybody who has a good idea for a new product, service, and wants to see it reach the marketplace,” says Marchand.

The book presents an evidence-based, stepwise approach that’s been employed by many leaders of innovation and entrepreneurship. The process starts with an attitude that welcomes change and that is biased toward asking questions and solving problems. At the heart of the Innovation Mindset are the eight laws of innovation, intended to ensure successful transformation:

  • A successful innovation must offer a solution
  • One great innovation starts with at least three good ideas
  • Innovators are dreamers, but they’re also realists
  • One hundred customers can’t be wrong
  • Because conditions are constantly changing, follow the 3-P Law
  • (Be Ready to Pivot at any Point in the Process)
  • A successful innovation flows from a sound business model and plan
  • The odds are against you, but you can improve the odds
  • There is no innovation without persuasion

The Innovation Mindset can be valuable to anyone who has a good idea for a new product or service, from students to early stage entrepreneurs to seasoned executives. The book serves as a guide to the often-intimidating landscape of bringing about change. By sharing her experiences, successes and mistakes, Marchand is confident she can accelerate the path to successful innovation.

Each chapter contains a profile of successful innovators from a wide range of industries to illustrate the corresponding law of innovation. They include Spencer Rascoff, co-founder of Hotwire and Zillow; Phil McKinney, former chief technology officer at Hewlett-Packard; and  “Nomad Dan” Navarro, a professional musician who during the pandemic came up with a creative way to keep his music and business alive. Other innovators include a woman who invented a chair shown to reduce anxiety in children with developmental disabilities, a French pioneer in nanotechnology for improving health, and a mom and volunteer firefighter who invented a piece of fitness equipment that received funding after her appearance on the TV show Shark Tank. They’re all impressive individuals who exemplify the Innovation Mindset and whose stories make for fascinating and instructive reading.

The last chapter focuses on the unique challenges women innovators face and why, as well as what leaders can do to encourage more female entrepreneurs and innovators. Marchand includes an appendix of resources for woman innovators.

For business students, entrepreneurs, startups, and major corporations, THE INNOVATION MINDSET offers a wealth of information to generate new ideas, create new products, and transform industries.

About the Authors

Lorraine Marchand is Executive Managing Director of Merative (formerly IBM Watson Health) and has three decades of experience in new product development. She has held leadership positions at Bristol Myers Squibb, Covance, Cognizant, and IQVIA, and she cofounded four companies. Marchand is an adjunct professor of management and serves on the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program Advisory Board at Columbia Business School and an adjunct professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Yeshiva University’s Katz School of Science and Health. She is also an investor-member of venture firm Plum Alley>

John Hanc writes for the New York Times, Smithsonian, Newsday, and Brain & Life. The author or cowriter of more than twenty books, he also teaches writing and communications at New York Institute of Technology.

For more information, please visit www.lorrainemarchand.com.

Leaders and teams aspiring to develop creative, progressive ideas would do well to consider problem solving as if it were a game – one in which the rules are constantly evolving in response to exploding competition, disruptive technology, and the relentless pace of change.  In THE GAME OF INNOVATION: Conquer Challenges | Level Up Your Team | Play to Win, thought leader and strategist David Cutler offers comprehensive guidance on reimagining possibility.

Innovation does not result from cookie cutter processes. This book’s methodology is specific and transferable, yet highly malleable. Rather than dogmatically employing rigid practices, problem solvers learn to apply what is meaningful in context

UNLOCK BREAKTHROUGH IDEAS

Turn Your Problems Into Games – And Play To Win The GAME Of Innovation

Leaders and teams aspiring to develop creative, progressive ideas would do well to consider problem solving as if it were a game – one in which the rules are constantly evolving in response to exploding competition, disruptive technology, and the relentless pace of change.  In THE GAME OF INNOVATION: Conquer Challenges | Level Up Your Team | Play to Win, thought leader and strategist David Cutler offers comprehensive guidance on reimagining possibility.

THE GAME OF INNOVATION unveils a step-by-step approach to designing, leading, and managing “innovation GAMEs.” Packed with engaging, actionable strategies, readers learn to:

  • Build powerhouse problem-solving experiences with a flexible GAME framework
  • Attack each part of the process, overcoming common obstacles to collaboration
  • Streamline thinking when employing the five lenses of innovation
  • Facilitate effectively, improve team dynamics, and build consensus
  • Arrive at the remarkable

Any question or project is a “problem,” from the tragic to the mundane to the extraordinary. Branch openings, new hires, and meaningful initiatives are exciting problems. Digitizing the paper trail is a logistical problem. Differentiating an organization is a creative problem.

Innovation champions begin by composing a carefully orchestrated process that all sides must accept to commence play. The term GAME describes a strategically designed structure:

 Guidelines – What framework?

Arena –        What conditions?

Materials –   What tools?

Experience ­– What process?

Any well-planned problem-solving experience qualifies as a GAME, whether or not it involves dice, concept cards, or other “game-y” features. That said, there are significant benefits to gamification: unified sense of purpose, accountability to rules and results, mandated emphasis on strategy.

Problem solving is a team sport. THE GAME OF INNOVATION teaches communities to align efforts and amplify productivity. Five colored lenses—GREEN (Gather), PURPLE (Propose), BLUE (Boost), RED (Rip), and ORANGE (Own)—ensure that everyone is on the same page at a given time. Corresponding chapters detail techniques for investigation, ideation, affirmation, critique, and committing to one choice at the expense of a thousand others.

The design of an innovation GAME is critical, but only part of the puzzle. Just as important are people. How are they led? How do they engage? What’s the culture? Shaping both experience and outcomes, individual chapters focus on facilitating effectively, cultivating happy teams, and getting to “Wow!”.

Innovation does not result from cookie cutter processes. This book’s methodology is specific and transferable, yet highly malleable. Rather than dogmatically employing rigid practices, problem solvers learn to apply what is meaningful in context.

THE GAME OF INNOVATION doesn’t just talk about innovation. It looks like innovation. Illustrated and visually captivating, this full color book will help groups, businesses, and organizations of all sizes tackle complex challenges of all stripes.

About the AUTHOR

Speaker, author, consultant, and facilitator David Cutler is known for leading immersive “innovation GAMEs.” These powerful, team-based experiences have empowered business, arts, and education communities from around the globe to solve creative challenges while becoming better collaborators. In addition to being founder and CEO of The Puzzler Company, he is also an award-winning, multi-genre musician and Yamaha Master Educator.  Cutler is a Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches innovation and entrepreneurship, and a member of the Liberty Fellowship and Aspen Global Leadership Network.