Is Innovation just an overused buzzword? A waste of time? A mere marketing ploy?
Author Alex Goryachev has a simple, resounding response to such questions: No!
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is driving change at an unprecedented pace, level, and intensity that is impacting businesses across industries, not to mention our everyday lives. We are rapidly blurring the physical and the digital, transforming the way we live and, in some sense, what it even means to be human. Whether we run a startup or multinational, a nonprofit or academic institution, a city or a whole country, we need to embrace this change to not just survive but thrive under these new realities.
In Fearless Innovation, Cisco’s Managing Director of Innovation Strategy and Programs explores how, no matter their function, leaders and managers can cut through the noise to understand change and deliver real results.
Goryachev’s actionable, consistent, and timeless innovation principles offer a blueprint to driving growth, enacting change, increasing the bottom line, and creating clear measurable value. Featuring diverse case studies of some of today’s most innovative organizations, historical observations, first-hand experience, and a look at where innovation is thriving, and why, this down-to-earth guide provides advice and clear steps on how to:
- Get teams to embrace innovation beyond empty slogans
- Focus on execution of innovation through leadership and strategy
- Measure the real effects of innovation to showcase ROI and attract investment
- Break down org silos by empowering effective, diverse, and inclusive teams
- Drive co-innovation through win-win ecosystem-wide partnerships
- Organize innovation teams and orchestrate outcomes by leveraging organizational DNA
- Communicate the value of innovation to differentiate ourselves from competition
Written for any organization that wants to stay relevant in the 21st Century, and even beyond, Fearless Innovation offers a step-by-step guide for getting past the confusion, overcoming fear, and getting down to business to create an environment of true innovation.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: From Buzzword to Reality xi
Chapter 1 Innovation is Now or Never 1
Don’t Join the Dying Breeds 3
Work with Change, Not Against It 8
Know When to Take Action 14
Summary: Innovation Waits for No One 18
Chapter 2 No Leadership = No Strategy = No Innovation 25
Recognize How Dysfunction and Stagnation Begin 27
Take Responsibility 30
Ask Questions 32
Clarify and Publish Employee Sentiments, Goals, and Strategy 38
Summary: Lead, Strategize, Innovate 41
Chapter 3 If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It 45
Get Real About Innovation 47
Find the Metrics 50
Incentivize Innovation through Radical Transparency 54
Time It Right 58
Summary: Metrics Matter 62
Chapter 4 Innovation is Not Disruption 69
Stop Thinking “Disruptively” 71
Start Thinking Pragmatically 77
Get Back to the Basics 78
Summary: The Pen is Mightier than the Program 83
Chapter 5 The Lonely Innovator Myth 89
Treat Innovation Like a Team Sport 92
Foster Diversity and Inclusion 97
Summary: Innovation is a Team Sport 106
Chapter 6 Innovation Wants to Be Free 111
Come Together 114
Take Co-Innovation to the Next Level 119
Summary: The Freedom of the Ecosystem 128
Chapter 7 Outcomes Must Be Orchestrated 135
Don’t Let Innovation Get Lost 137
Hire a Chief Innovation Officer 139
Put Governance Processes into Action 142
Build Innovation Teams 144
Summary: Orchestrating Invisible Innovation 149
Chapter 8 Communicate, Communicate, Communicate 153
Invest in Communications Skills and Capabilities 156
Start Internally 160
Create Dialogue Externally 166
Summary: Discover, Listen, Act 171
Conclusion: Business as Usual 177
About the Author 181
Index 183
