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The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity through Your Organization (Hardcover)
by Thomas Kelley, Jonathan Littman
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Innovation |
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Eloquent, thought-provoking, and practical in spelling out steps to spread creativity within an organization. |
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Author: Thomas Kelley, Jonathan Littman
Publisher: Currency Doubleday
Pub. in: October, 2005
ISBN: 0385512074
Pages: 288
Measurements: 9.6 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00059
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- MSL Picks -
The Ten Faces of Innovation will remind many people of earlier works that favor mental diversity such as de Bono's Six Thinking Hats and von Oeck's A Kick in the Seat of the Pants.
What's different about The Ten Faces of Innovation is that it has many examples built around the experiences of one organization, the product design firm IDEO. Mr. Kelley is the general manager of that organization which makes this book into both an insider memoir and a sales brochure. So think of this book as being both a thesis and a case history. Multiple examples from one organization in group creativity and innovation have been hard to find in the business literature.
Like most case histories, this one is full of fun stories and occasional examples that may be new to you.
But you soon get the idea that innovation is all about understanding the market, observation as people use offerings and try to solve problems, brainstorming alternatives, rapid prototyping and quick experimentation - Themes that are developed in more detail in Mr. Kelley's earlier book, The Art of Innovation.
The ten faces are anthropologist (see what's been going on), experimenter (try something new), cross-pollinator (attach two things together for the first time), hurdler (get past stalls), collaborator (bring people together to cooperate), director (set the action into a coherent whole), experience architect (make it Wow!), set designer (facilitate interaction through the environment), caregiver (nurture those involved) and the story teller (who gets the nub of the truth across in a few words - with plenty of reference to Stephen Denning's, The Leader's Guide to Storytelling - a fine book).
In the end, Mr. Kelley points out that not every team will have all ten faces, that some people can put on more than one face and you sometimes just have to do the best you can. Some of these roles are creative while others are more into integration or execution. That part of the taxonomy wasn't as well developed. The book would have been stronger if that line of thought had been spelled out more in the various situations that arise.
By the end, I found myself a little bored and a little disappointed. While Mr. Kelley knows a lot about his own organization and its projects for famous clients, he's on less firm ground when he writes about others . . . often relying on books rather than interviews. I was particularly struck that he entirely missed mentioning P&G's new approach to developing new products through contests among world experts. That method seemingly makes a lot of what Mr. Kelley is saying obsolete. Perhaps it is still relevant if you cannot afford to run such global contests. But most organizations can based on the Goldcorp Challenge model.
You will probably gain more benefit from reading The Art of Innovation than this one. I also recommend Corporate Creativity as a better source of case studies for how companies have accomplished more through their own creative efforts and of course, Professor Amabile's many wonderful studies. (From quoting Donald Mitchell, USA)
Target readers:
Executives, managers, entrepreneurs, professionals, government leaders, and MBAs.
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Thomas Kelley is the general manager of IDEO and the author of the bestselling business classic, The Art of Innovation. As a leading speaker, he addresses scores of business audiences on how to use innovation to transform a business's culture and strategic thinking.
Jonathan Littman is a contributing editor at Playboy and author of several books on business, crime, and sport.
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From the Publisher:
The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation as Tom Kelley points out in The Ten Faces of Innovation.
Over the years, Tom has observed a number of roles that people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. Among these approaches are the Anthropologist, the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products, to come up with new innovations; the Cross-Pollinator, who mixes and matches ideas, widely disparate people, and technologies to create new ideas that can drive growth; and the Hurdler, who instantly looks for ways to overcome the limits and challenges to any situation.
Filled with engaging stories of how companies such as Kraft, Samsung, and Procter & Gamble have incorporated IDEO's thinking to transform the customer experience, The Ten Faces of Innovation is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.
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Beyond the Devil's Advocate
We've all been there. The pivotal meeting where you push forward a new idea or proposal you're passionate about. A fast-paced discussion leads to an upwelling of support that seems about to reach critical mass. And then, in one disastrous moment, your hopes are dashed when someone weighs in with those fateful words: "Let me just play Devil's Advocate for a minute..."
Having invoked the awesome protective power of that seemingly innocuous phrase, the speaker now feels entirely free to take pot shots at your idea, and does so with complete impunity. Because they're not really your harshest critic. They are essentially saying, "The Devil made me do it." They're removing themselves from the equation and sidestepping individual responsibility for the verbal attack. But before they're done, they've torched your fledgling concept.
The Devil's Advocate gambit is extraordinary, but certainly not uncommon since it strikes so regularly in the project rooms and boardrooms of corporate America. What's truly astonishing is how much punch is packed into that simple nine-word phrase. In fact, the Devil's Advocate may be the biggest innovation killer in America today. What makes this negative persona so dangerous is that it is such a subtle threat. Every day, thousands of great new ideas, concepts and plans are nipped in the bud by Devil's Advocates.
Why is this persona so damning? Because the Devil's Advocate encourages idea-wreckers to assume the most negative possible perspective, one that only sees the downside, the problems, the disasters-in-waiting. Once those floodgates open, they can drown a new initiative in negativity.
Why should you care? And why do we at IDEO believe this problem is so important? Because innovation is the lifeblood of all organizations, and the Devil's Advocate is toxic to your cause. This is no trivial matter. There is no longer any serious debate about the primacy of innovation to the health and future strength of a corporation. Even the staid British publication The Economist recently said, "Innovation is now recognized as the single most important ingredient in any modern economy."
And what The Economist said about nations is equally true about organizations. In the four years since The Art of Innovation, my first book about our practices at IDEO, I have worked with clients from Singapore to San Francisco to São Paulo. At the same time, the scope of our work has expanded to include industries as far flung as healthcare services, retailing, transportation, financial services, consumer packaged goods and food & beverage. My colleagues at IDEO and I have witnessed first-hand how innovation has become recognized as a pivotal management tool across virtually all industries and market segments. And while IDEO used to spend the majority of our time in the world of product-based innovation, we have more recently come around to seeing innovation as a tool for transforming the entire culture of organizations. Sure, a great product can be one important element in the formula for business success, but companies that want to succeed in today's competitive environment need much more. They need innovation at every point of the compass, in all aspects of the business and among every team member. Building an environment fully engaged in positive change, and a culture rich in creativity and renewal, means creating a company with 360 degrees of innovation. And companies that want to succeed at such 360-degree innovation will need new insights. New viewpoints. And new roles.
There is a growing recognition that fostering a culture of innovation is critical to success, as important as mapping out competitive strategies or maintaining good margins. A recent Boston Consulting Group survey in nearly fifty countries and all sorts of businesses reported that nine out of ten senior executives believe generating growth through innovation is essential for success in their industry. Where business magazines once ranked companies primarily by sales, growth, and profit, publications are now ranking corporations on their innovation track record. And while acquisitions can yield synergy, and reengineering can streamline operations, a culture of innovation may be the ultimate fuel for long term growth and brand development. Having optimized operations and finances, many companies are now recognizing that growth through innovation is their best strategy to compete in a world marketplace in which some of the players may have lower-cost resources. As my friend Tom Peters would say, you can't shrink your way to greatness. One way to look at the current pressure-cooker of international business is as a fierce competition, where you win through innovation, or lose the game. Today, companies are viewed less for their current offerings than for their ability to change and adapt and dream up something new. Whether you sell consumer electronics or financial services, the frequency with which you must innovate and replenish your offerings is rapidly increasing.
Serial Innovation Success
As I was completing this book, Google, already the world's leading search engine, was innovating at a breakneck pace, rolling out a new service capability or acquisition practically every month - everything from searching rare books in the world's greatest libraries to viewing aerial photographs of any location, to skimming through transcripts of last night's TV shows. Until it introduced Desktop Search, I, like most people, had only thought of Google as a firm to help me search the web. Now they've convinced me I'll soon be using a search engine to wade through all my own data as well.
- Google, of course, is not alone in such rapid-fire innovation. Plenty of companies in widely divergent industries have distinguished themselves as serial innovators. Here are a few favorites that come to mind:
- W.L. Gore Associates, most famous for its breathable Gore-Tex fabrics, not only manufactures a tremendous breadth of products - everything from guitar strings to artificial blood vessels - it also distinguishes itself through its egalitarian, team-based organization. Eschewing bosses and job descriptions, Gore creates idea-friendly environments that work to generate a continual stream of clever innovations. Gore was recently cited as "the most innovative company in America," and is ranked among the best places to work in Germany, Italy, the U.S. and the U.K.
- The Gillette Company grabbed enormous market share over the years with a series of newer-and-better shaving systems like the Sensor and Mach III razors. Far from resting on its laurels the firm recently poured its considerable resources into an even more ambitious project, the motorized M3 Power razor. Along the way, Gillette has developed a culture of continuous innovation to stay a step ahead of its competitors.
- The unique German retailer Tchibo started in the 1950's as a simple coffee shop, but has transcended its roots to become an international merchandizing sensation. Tchibo is like Starbucks meets Brookstone, combining a stand-up café with an eclectic collection of ever-changing products. Part of its success formula is "A new experience every week," with a completely new line of inventory (everything from bicycles to lingerie) arriving and selling in huge quantities for just seven days. Tchibo reports, for example, that the week their stores featured telescopes they sold more telescopes in seven days than had been sold the previous year in all of Germany. The company continues to introduce a completely new merchandizing theme 52 times a year and generates impressive sales throughout Europe.
The Human Touch
The Ten Faces of Innovation is a book about innovation with a human face. It's about the individuals and teams that fuel innovation inside great organizations. Because all great movements are ultimately human-powered. Archimedes said, "Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough and I can move the world." The innovation personas described in the next ten chapters are not necessarily the most powerful people you will ever meet. They don't have to be. Because each brings its own lever, its own tools, its own skills, its own point of view. And when someone combines energy and intelligence with the right lever, they can generate a remarkably powerful force. Make sure they have a place on your team. Together you can do extraordinary things.
At IDEO, we believe that innovators focus on the verbs. They're proactive. They're energetic. Innovators set out to create, to experiment, to inspire, to build on new ideas. Our techniques may at times seem unusual but the results can be truly extraordinary.
All good working definitions of innovation pair ideas with action, the spark with the fire. Innovators don't just have their head in the clouds. They also have their feet on the ground. 3M, one of the first companies to fully embrace innovation as the essence of its corporate brand, defines it as "New ideas - plus action or implementation - which result in an improvement, a gain, or a profit." It is not enough to just have a good idea. Only when you act, when you implement, do you truly innovate. Ideas. Action. Implementation. Gain. Profit. All good words of course, but there's still one piece left out. People. That's why I prefer the Innovation Network's definition: "People creating value through the implementation of new ideas." The classic 3M definition might leave you with the impression that, as a bumper sticker might put it, "Innovation Happens." But unfortunately there's no spontaneous combustion in the business world. Innovation is definitely not self-starting or self-perpetuating. People make it happen through their imagination, will power and perseverance. And whether you are a team member, a group leader, or an executive, your only real path to innovation is through people. You can't really do it alone.
This is a book about people. More specifically, it is about the roles people can play, the hats they can put on, the personas they can adopt. It is not about the luminaries of innovation like Thomas Edison, nor even celebrity CEOs like Steve Jobs and Jeffrey Immelt. It is about the unsung heroes who work on the front lines of entrepreneurship in action, the countless people and teams who make innovation happen day in and day out.
The ten core chapters of this book highlight ten people-centric tools developed at IDEO that you might call talents or roles or personas for innovation. Although the list does not presume to be comprehensive, it does aspire to expand your repertory. We've found that adopting one or more of these roles can help teams express a different point of view and create a broader range of innovative solutions…
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Transforming Innovation
The Ten Faces of Innovation is designed to help you bring the human elements of innovation to the workings of your enterprise. In giving innovation a face, I've also tried to give it a personality. And I've had a lot of help, thanks not only to my brother David who founded the firm but also to the hundreds of talented IDEO designers, engineers and human factors people who have paved the way over the last twenty-seven years. It's my hope that this book pays them tribute by shining a light on the essential approaches, personas and roles that nourish innovation.
The Ten Faces of Innovation is about how people and teams put into practice methods and techniques that infuse an enterprise with a continuous spirit of creative evolution. Successful businesses build fresh innovation strategies into the fabric of their operations. They do it year-round and in widely different parts of their enterprises. When the team's creative engine is running at top speed, the momentum and synergy can keep a company ahead through bad times and good.
In an increasingly competitive global marketplace, this book is about seizing the innovation opportunities in a company, an industry, a region, even a nation. It's about developing the personas of your team to maximize its influence. The right innovation project at the right time can spur a company-wide movement, generating an afterglow that permeates the workplace - sparking a culture of innovation that takes on a life of its own.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. In the following chapters, you'll find ample evidence of the transforming power of a culture of innovation. You'll find companies where innovation is no longer merely about generating compelling new products and services. Companies where the creative process itself - how they work, inspire and collaborate - has developed a remarkable energy that keeps the organization moving forward.
As you get to know the ten personas, keep in mind that they're not inherent personality traits or "types" that are permanently attached to one (and only one) individual on the team. A persona is not about your predetermined "business DNA." These innovation roles are available to nearly anyone on your team, and people can switch roles, reflecting their multifaceted capabilities…
It's the same with innovation roles. We have too many people out there playing Devil's Advocate when they should be in a learning role like the Anthropologist, when they should be invoking an organizing role like the Collaborator, when they should be adopting a building role like the Experience Architect. The innovation roles give you a chance to broaden your creative range, with the flexibility to pick the right role for the right challenge. The innovation roles offer a new vocabulary, sparking a fresh discourse that invites team members to make their own unique contributions to the success of the enterprise.
And like a method actor immersing himself in a new role, you may find that walking in the shoes of a new persona changes your attitude and outlook, even your behavior. If it opens you up to new thought patterns, the new role may help you achieve personal and professional growth. And thinking of the ten innovation elements as personas rather than tools reminds us that innovation is a full-time endeavor for all modern organizations, not just a task to be checked off periodically. The personas are about "being innovation" rather than merely "doing innovation." Taking on one or more of these roles is a conscious step toward becoming an innovator in your daily life.
When you begin building your team, remember there is no set formula for using the personas. People can take on multiple roles. You need not have a one-to-one mapping of teams to personas, and you certainly don't need ten people on every team. It's unlikely every team will have every persona represented. Conversely, this isn't Hollywood, and no one wants to be typecast. You might find yourself wearing the hats of two or three personas as you move from one project to the next.
Some of these roles will undoubtedly fit you better than others. You may be a born Cross-Pollinator or a nimble Experimenter. You may also find you're a better Anthropologist than you thought possible. This isn't a competition between the individual innovation roles. It's a team effort to expand the overall potential of your organization. Increasing your skills in just two or three roles can make a critical difference. The Ten Faces of Innovation is about inviting you to broaden your color palette. Maybe you've always favored blue and green, but if you open these pages and try a few brush strokes of purple, you might be amazed at the results. So take up your brush and let it fly.
The canvas is waiting.
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| View all 10 comments |
John T. Landry (Harvard Business Review) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
This second book from design firm IDEO will introduce you to some new thinking on new thinking... the book's detailed, often quirky examples will inspire some of those looking to expand their innovation horizons. |
Kerry Hannon (USA Today) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
As you read through the many examples of innovative people with interesting jobs producing cutting-edge products, you find yourself stopping periodically to tell someone down the hall about something you just read, or e-mailing your college-age niece who is grappling with career choices. |
Robert Morris (Amazon.com Top Ten Reviewer) (MSL quote) , USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
...offers a rigorous intellectual journey whose ultimate value will be determined, entirely, by the nature and extent of innovative thinking which each reader achieves...and who then uses the breakthrough insights to drive creativity throughout her or his own organization. |
Bruce Nussbaum (Business Week) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-28 00:00>
...this book delivers some tasty morsels to managers hungry to boost their companies' level of innovation. It is funny, insightful, and chock-full of surprising examples. If you take it on a flight from Los Angeles, you will have something to use at work by the time you land in New York. |
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