Description
Book SynopsisEssential strategies to transform your organization and boost your profits Want to recapture your organization's original innovative spirit? Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire helps you remove the obstacles that have crippled the innovation superpowers that made your organization successful in the first place.
Trade Review"Kelley may have become an online media personality, but he's probably more well-known within the innovation community as author of the book
Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire, published October 2010 by John Wiley & Sons. I wanted to provide a book that helps people identify and remove barriers to innovation and is an innovation primer for people who are looking to get started," (
Seattle Times, 4 September 2011)
Table of ContentsForeword xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
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
