Innovation @ Merage - UCI Paul Merage School of Business : Ideation, Book Reviews

The Designful Company: How to Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation

Lynda Lawrence — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:24:00 GMT

By: Marty Neumeier: New Riders, 2009.

Despite its dreadful title, this little book is a gem. Neumeier explains why everyone should care about design (companies that win design awards have 100-200% higher returns, and must-have products are always because of good design). More important, he defines designers as everyone who makes something better, whether it’s an idea, a process or a product.

He also points out the difference between standard business thinking that measures “What is” and design thinking that posits “What could be.” Without the latter, he says, we’d all be driving the same cars and watching broadcast TV. As for getting these new ideas converted to reality, he has strong ideas about storytelling (good) and PowerPoint (bad).

Why should you care about design? Just substitute the words innovation or organizational change and you’ll see why his insights apply to just about everything you have on your to-do list for the next decade.

Definitely worth an hour of your time, I’d give it a 9.0 on the LL innovation meter. Recommended for managers, MBAs, and anyone interested in changing their organization’s status quo.

What Would Google Do?

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:07:00 GMT

By Jeff Jarvis; Collins Business, 2009

Take everything you know about business, turn it upside down, and that’s pretty much what Google is doing. If conventional wisdom suggests that people should pay for your product, Google’s is free. If you might support that weird business strategy by running ads on your front page, Google’s is absolutely pristine.

In Jarvis’s view, every business has a lot to learn from one of the few profitable companies in these turbulent times. He starts with some counterintuitive Google premises: give control away, make mistakes often, let your customers be your ads, niches are more profitable than mass markets, everything is public, get out of the way.

The last half of the book is where it gets interesting--rethinking the business models of major industries in the Google way: manufacturing, real estate, communications, airlines, insurance, education. There are some provocative ideas, and at the very least, some challenges to long-held assumptions that are worth pondering.

I’d give it an 8 on the LL innovation meter, good for anyone who makes strategic decisions or wants to start the next Google.

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.

Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently (book review - 9.5)

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:55:00 GMT

By Gregory Berns; Harvard Business Press 2008

Do people like Walt Disney and Steve Jobs simply have brains that are different from the rest of ours? Neuroscientist Berns explores new data from fMRI tests to explain how the brain works in creating new ideas, responding to fear of failure, and creating the social networks that enable innovators to sell their ideas to other people.

According to Berns, the key to creating new ideas is literally seeing things differently. He cites glass artist Dale Chihuly’s new perceptions after he lost an eye in a car accident. To some extent, this talent is hardwired, but with practice it can be improved.

Fear is an ancient emotion, and it’s triggered every time we encounter something novel (which explains why so few new ideas actually make it all the way up to the boardroom). Overcoming it is tricky, and entails putting new ideas in familiar contexts—thus the horseless carriage.

Finally, persuading others that your ideas are worthwhile depends a great deal on your social skills, which vary depending on your particular brain. He notes that very few people have enhanced capability in all three areas, but that can be overcome by working in teams with the requisite abilities.

It’s an interesting cut-away view of brains at work, an easy read for individuals or managers, and I’d give it a 9.5 on the LL innovation meter.

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.