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In the Preface, the authors explain that their book "deconstructs innovation into understandable chunks that form a compelling argument of what innovation is, why it is important, and how [their reader] can begin to transform [herself or himself as well as her or his] company to meet the needs of the current marketplace." They focus their attention on those who are "at the heart of the innovation process." Throughout eleven chapters, they answer questions such as these: 1. What are the defining qualities and characteristics of "the new breed of innovator"? 2. Why is innovation `the only approach to differentiation"? 3. What does the process of innovation involve, indeed require? 4. How best to identify relevant and significant trends? 5. Then, how to respond to these trends as especially important opportunities? 6. How can (and should) innovation respond to human needs, interests, and even fantasies? 7. What is a "Powers of 10" analysis and why can its revelations be so valuable? 8. Why is B2B innovation the "new frontier of fantasy"? 9. How to plan and then implement a successful product development process? 10. How to establish and then nourish an innovation culture? In the Epilogue, the authors review various "powers of innovation," reaffirming that those who comprise the "new breed" embrace the principles and ideas of pragmatic innovation: "an interdisciplinary collaboration, a structured process of exploration, a balance between art and science, [and] a focus on experience and fantasy." These are the otherwise ordinary people who will, together, "design the extraordinary things to come." As I read this informative and thought-provoking book, I was again reminded of the fact that the same principles which Vogel, Cagan, and Boatwright cite and then explain have -- for decades -- guided and informed the "pragmatic innovation" of countless teams and even communities. For example, those which Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman examine in their book, Creating Genius: the Disney studios which produced so many animation classics; Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which developed the first personal computer; Apple Computer which then took it to market; those in the so-called "War Room" who helped to elect Bill Clinton President in 1992; the so-called "Skunk Works" where so many of Lockheed's greatest designs were formulated; Black Mountain College which "wasn't simply a place where creative collaboration took place" for the artists in residence from 1933 to 1956, "it was about creative collaboration"; and Los Alamos (NM) and the University of Chicago where the Manhattan Project eventually produced a new weapon called "the Gadget." Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Organizing Genius as well as Evan I. Schwartz's Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors; three volumes in the Harvard Business Review Paperback Series on Breakthrough Thinking, Innovation, and The Innovative Enterprise; Tom Kelley's The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm; and Seeing What's Next: Using Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change co-authored by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony, and Erik A. Roth. Comment | Permalink | (Report this)