By Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson, Joseph V. Sinfield, and Elizabeth J. Altman; Harvard Business School Press 2008

 As innovation moves from that thing that start-ups do to an imperative for large businesses, there’s a huge gap between having great ideas and getting them to market. Thus the authors, colleagues of Clayton Christensen in innovation consulting firm Innosight, have created a how-to guide for management in medium-to-large companies.

Chock full of charts, checklists, and questions, it’s a step-by-step operator’s manual to that process between “the theory of random trial and error and perfectly predictable paint-by-numbers rules.” Since business people like rules (witness the success of Six Sigma), it strikes a good balance between quantifying each step of the process and leaving some room for—well—innovation. Or, as they quote Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih, “Look, the vision is we’re going to California and we’re going to drive.  That means pack for five days, and bring credit cards, but don’t ask me where we’re going to have lunch on Tuesday, because I can’t tell you.”

Based on patterns that they’ve seen in practice and research, they’ve created a comprehensive set of best practices for ongoing disruptive innovation.

On the LL innovation meter, it’s a solid 9. While it doesn’t have many breakthrough ideas, it includes the best ideas in current practice in an accessible format.  Any executive who follows even part of this guide will probably be more successful at innovating for growth.

Lynda Lawrence is an innovation consultant with Ideaworks Consulting. She teaches Strategic Innovation and Design Management at the Merage School at UCI, and is an advisor to the Beall Center.