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Two Great Books on Innovation
Innovation is critical to growth. Here are two books that I’ve just finished reading that will highlight the keys to making innovation successful.
The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation - by P&G CEO AG Lafley, and consultant/author Ram Charan, this book shows you the secret behind P&G’s turnaround and success. It’s a must read.
Inside Steve’s Brain – an interesting view into the success that is Steve Jobs and Apple. While the book is not about innovation per se, the role of innovation at Apple is so integral that you can’t help but learn some valuable secrets.
Both books dispel many of the myths and highlight the importance of knowing (and I mean really knowing) everything about your desired customer.
Outside-In Equals Success
The new book Hidden In Plain Sight: How To Find And Execute Your Company’s Next Big Growth Strategy provides some useful insights. The book take an interesting look at the ways companies successfully innovate as well as the ways they fail. I’ve just started the book, so I can’t speak to it completely – it’s off to a great start. I’d like to share a couple of points that deserve an ‘amen’:
- If a company is to truly hit the spot with innovation time and again with any consistency, it must:
- Understand the people it is trying to serve as the individuals they are – apart from any connection or interaction with the company.
- It must know how to go beyond its own perimeters of products,markets and competencies; let go of and challenge the assumptions, common practices and golden rules of doing business still held today; and go beyond what it has learned from consumers.
- See itself “from the outside in” and formulate strategies around people’s behaviors, not just seek to satisfy consumer needs and wants or customer requirements.
- This is not easy. But it need not be terribly difficult.
- As Henry Ford once acidly noted, “If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me they wanted a faster horse.
While these two points focus on successfully innovating, anyone who doesn’t think they are pertinent to their business needs to understand that the failure to successfully innovate condemns one to commoditization status – and that is not good for profitability or growth.
An Outsider’s Perspective
I write this en route to Seattle for a presentation to a group of CEOs. While flying, I’ve had the chance to read a fascinating book, Success Built to Last, by the co-author of Built to Last, Jerry Porras.
Late in the book (talking about what the authors refer to as ActionStyles), they tell a story about Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel (and an author himself). It was a story I knew already, but it was a great reminder. I’d like to share it with you.
The story takes place when Intel and Grove were struggling over the decision of what to do when Intel’s core business at the time, memory chips, was deteriorating.
“What if things continued to get much worse and the board got rid of him? Grove speculated. [Gordon] Moore [co-founder of Intel] said the board would undoubtedly bring a new person in who would have the courage as an outsider to do what few CEOs who are set in their jobs would be willing to do: Dump the core business.”
If you were brand new to your business (or your job) what would you do differently? What would you stop doing? What would you start doing? Why aren’t you doing it now?
I know I’m going to lose sleep thinking about this tonight.
Whose Problem Are You Solving?
I’m in the midst of reading an excellent book, Made to Stick. The authors, Chip & Dan Heath, make a point that I try to make with my clients. They do it so well, I thought it important to share.
One of their points in making ideas stick, is that they need to be concrete. As people gain expertise they become increasingly abstract in their communication. Without meaning to, a message becomes meaningless. The Heaths point out that one way to avoid becoming abstract is to be very clear about who you are trying to communicate with. They share the example of Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and the author of such books as The Purpose Driven Life. They site Warren’s, and Saddleback Church’s description of their target ‘customer’ (they call him ‘Saddleback Sam’):
Saddleback Sam is the typical unchurched man who lives in our area. His age is late thirties or early forties. He has a college degree and may have an advanced degree…He is married to Saddleback Samantha, and they have two kids, Steve and Sally.
Surveys show that Sam likes his job, he likes where he lives, and he thinks he’s enjoying life more now than he was five years ago. He’s self-satisfied, even smug, about his station in life. He’s either a professional, a manager, or a successful entrepreneur.
…Another important characteristic of Sam is that he’s skeptical of what he calls “organized” religion. He’s likely to say, “I believe in Jesus. I just don’t like organized religion.”
Saddleback Church has more than 50,000 members and Rick Warren has several best selling books. They got there, in no small part, because of their focus on clearly and concretely communicating with people, instead of demographics. Now look at your target client description. How does it compare? If your description of your target clients does not go into such depth, it is impossible to clearly, quickly and distinctly set yourself apart from all the others seeking your clients’ attention.
What is Possible?
Too often, we are limited by our own limiting beliefs; or by what the rest of the world says is possible (or even factual). It’s a good thing for society that some of us are not.
I’m reading a very interesting book (Get Out of Your Own Way, by Robert K. Cooper, PhD). In it, he made the following observation:
Robert H. Goddard, the driving force behind America’s early space programs is today called “the father of space flight.” But when Goddard first imagined that rocket could be propelled through out space, the New York Times ridiculed his dream, saying he lacked even “the knowledge ladled out in highschools.” With no atmosphere in outer space and therefore nothing for an engine to thrust against, the Times patiently explained, a rocket couldn’t move an inch.
What ‘facts’ are holding you back?
What is a Brand?
I just picked up the book Brand Harmony. I’m only a few pages into it and it’s already given me three points that I want to share. Here they are:
- Your brand is not what you say you are … Your brand is what you customers think you are.
- Great marketing and branding is not about telling a story. It is about having our stories understood.
- Branding isn’t something companies do to their customers. Branding is something customers do to companies and their products.
If you’ve read anything about the history of where the idea of ‘brand’ comes from, you’ve probably seen the stories that it goes back to the cowboy days, when owners of cattle ‘branded’ them with their marks; enabling them to determine who owned which cattle.
The industrial age took that concept and applied it(or, more appropriately, misapplied it) to marketing and customers. All of a sudden, the focus of too many companies became building a great brand instead of delighting customers, or making a compelling promise, or just building a great company. Somehow, people forgot that a great brand is a result of doing the right things.
The great thing about today’s world is that customer’s can take the power back. This is good news for companies (like Starbucks, Apple, Harley, etc.) that focus on doing ‘insanely great things’ then letting the chips fall where they may.
Every fast growth company will do well to remember that, today, customer’s control their destiny – as it should be.
Make A Promise
As companies look for ways to reinvigorate both the quality and rate of their growth in the post-industrial-age marketplace, I’ve found they struggle at a critical first step – making a promise. Jim Collins in his book, “Good To Great”, asked the now-famous question, “What can your company be the best in the world at?”.
Answering this question is critical if you want to be able to make a compelling promise – not just to the market, but to the people who work with you, as well. If you can’t answer it, quality growth will always be simply another item on your wish list.
Notice, however, that Collins does not ask, “what is your company the best in the world at,” he asks “what can your company be the best in the world at.” It is rare that a company is already the best at what it wants to best at. By extension, it is rare that a company is capable of delivering on the promise it makes at the time it makes the promise. It’s something you have to grow into.
In fact, I don’t recommend choosing a promise you can deliver right now. As I’ve written before, to truly differentiate yourself, you have to have the courage to make a promise your competition either cannot or will not emulate. Be definition, this means you must promise something that doesn’t currently exist.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not okay to make a promise that you will never be able to deliver. But don’t wait until you are able to deliver a promise before you make it. This is not a chicken or egg question. Make the promise and you will develop your ability to deliver it. A compelling promise should not only excite your potential clients, it should excite your team as well.
The point is this: decide what you can be the best at and put all your efforts behind achieving that vision. Don’t get hung up figuring out exactly what you do now. Decide what you can do and start trying to do it. The triggers for growth are always hidden inside your efforts to make and keep big promises.
The Laws of Lifetime Growth
While I often times reference a book in this blog, it is not often that I actually recommend one. Today I do.
Dan Sullivan, founder of The Strategic Coach has just released his newest book, The Laws of Lifetime Growth . Dan is a friend of mine and a coach to me. This blog would not exist were it not for the thoughts, guidance, support and cheerleading that Dan has given me over the years.
I admit it. I’m a shill for Dan. Dan has dedicated his life to working with entrepreneurs of growth companies. An entreprenuer himself, there is no one who understands the issues that impact entreprenuers better than Dan.
This little book is Dan’s philosophy in 109 pages. Dan co-wrote it with Catherine Nomura, one of his Strategic Coach team members. Catherine’s touches make it an easy read, so there it is not one of those books that just ‘sits’ on your bookshelf. It’s easy to talk about, and it gives you a great structure for thinking about life and growth.
The 10 laws are:
Always Make Your Future Bigger Than Your Past (my favorite)
Always Make Your Learning Greater Than Your Experience
Always Make Your Contribution Bigger Than Your Reward
Always Make Your Performance Greater Than Your Applause
Always Make Your Gratitude Greater Than Your Success
Always Make Your Enjoyment Greater Than Your Effort
Always Make Your Cooperation Greater Than Your Status
Always Make Your Confidence Greater Than Your Comfort
Always Make Your Purpose Greater Than Your Money
Always Make Your Questions Bigger Than Your Answers
I encourage you to read the book share your favorites.
Thoughts On “The Ice Cream Maker”
Every now and then, several people tell me about a book at the same time. When this happens, I find that it’s a good thing to read it. This happened recently with The Ice Cream Maker, by Subir Chowdhury.
The book was a simple read and contained many pithy quotes and thoughts – nothing new in a parable (even my own). I don’t disagree with the need to pay attention to quality, empower your workforce, or to listen to our customers (with some exceptions).
The danger of this book is that if you follow its simple advice, you throw yourself smack in the middle of the commoditization trap. The book treats multiple situations with the same medicine. As I’ve mentioned in a previous article there are two value segments that people fall into: fundamental value or total value. Following this book’s recommendation would force you to implement a fundamental value proposition — whether that is right for you or not. Once you find yourself working with that value proposition, commoditization awaits.
The book also goes far a field in stating its argument. One of its main points is that “Quality is not part of [America’s] DNA.” The author claims that America is an innovator, but “As a result [of our lack of quality DNA] we’re constantly creating new products, and new markets, only to lose them to other companies. American companies find themselves on a treadmill, constantly having to come up with new innovations in order to stay ahead of our competition.”
This argument is insane. Certainly, the world is stepping up in the competitive landscape. Certainly, America cannot rest on its laurels as it has at times (and does today). The treadmill Chowdhury refers to has nothing to do with quality – the treadmill is staying ahead of commoditization. What America has in its DNA is demand creation. America focuses on high-margin activities and out sources low-margin activities to other countries. It’s a natural result of business evolution. Any business that forgets the power of commoditization, and the need to stay ahead of it, has only itself to blame for failing.
That’s my read, feel free to e-mail me your comments.
Until next time, Doug
Presence – A Warning Against Trying To Solve New Problems With Old Solutions
I’m reading a fabulous book, Presence, by (among others) Peter Senge, famous for The Fifth Discipline.
While it’s not written specifically about growth, there’s an excerpt that explains the challenges that we are all facing these days as we try to grow our businesses. I don’t want you to miss it, so here it is:
In 1999, when Otto [Scharmer, a co-author] and Joseph [Jaworski, another co-author] first interviewed him, [Brian] Arthur talked about the need to “sense an emerging future” in order to meet the challenges of managing in an increasingly technology-based economy. As the pace of technological development quickens, so does the rate of what economist Joseph Schumpeter call “creative destruction” – of products, companies, and even entire industries. This leads, said Arthur, to the continual “forming, configuring, locking in, and decaying of structures.” Little is predictable or repetitive. Problems are not well defined. The rules of the game as well as the other players change rapidly as the stakes get increasingly higher. Overall, business operates less and less like “the halls of production of the old, repetitive manufacturing industry” and more and more like a kind of “casino of technology.” In this kind of business environment, making decisions based on the habits of past experience is no longer optimal and wise.
This excerpt is worth pausing for. The industrial age is over. Its concepts and formulas no longer work. We all need to find new ways to solve new problems. Think about it.
Until next time, Doug
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Doug's Washington Business Journal Columns- Intelligent Growth Articles
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