NEXT: Reinventing Your Future Through Innovation

by Seth Michael Stone

Overview

EVERY LEADER OR ASPIRING LEADER wants an edge. Today that edge comes through the power of effective innovation capacity. Gone are the days where giant corporations can put up seemingly insurmountable barriers to entry. Innovative thinking organizations small and large can leapfrog them in both profitability and productivity given the right tools. The prescriptive methodology in these pages will show you the positive impact that a well-designed innovation program can have on organizational culture, design, values, strategy, and human resources. If you want to be a leader in your industry, you need to consistently produce ideas and get the good ones from the mind to the market, early and often. This starts with you! Next will show you what it takes to create a successful and sustainable innovation program, regardless of the industry or market you are in.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633931299
Publisher:	Koehler Books
Publication date:	09/30/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

Dr. Seth Stone is the co-founder and principal consultant of SBS Strategic Innovations, LLC, an organizational consultancy designed to help leaders uncover latent potential and thrive in the global marketplace using the components of innovation. Previously Dr. Stone worked in higher education administration where he devised customized training program for organizations across the United States to help address some of their most difficult organizational challenges. Prior to that he spent numerous years in the financial services industry in various capacities of investment banking and asset management. He holds a doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University, as well as an MBA from Regent and a Bachelor of Science in management and business from Skidmore College. Dr. Stone resides in New York and enjoys travel, spending time with family and friends and a good round of golf.

Table of Contents

Foreword 02

Introduction: Why innovation and Creativity Matter 05

Section 1: Priming the Pump 10
Chapter 1: Debunking the Myth: What Innovation
Is and Isn't 11
Chapter 2: Seeing Things Differently: Exploring the
Concept of Design Thinking 24
Chapter 3: Crayons, Toys, and Imaginary Friends:
The Importance of Creativity in Innovation 36
Chapter 4: More Widgets or Better Ideas?: The Struggle
Between Effieciency and Innovative Design 48

Section 2: Key Areas of Focus to Produce
Meaningful Innovation 60
Chapter 5: The Shepherd and the Flock: Leader/Follower
Dynamics and Alignment 61
Chapter 6: If You Build It, It Will Come: Organizational
Design as Part of Your Innovation Strategy 71
Chapter 7: From A to B . . . Then to C, D, and E:
Where Strategy Meets Vision 81
Chapter 8: You Get What You Give: Information
Sharing and Knowledge Creation 92
Chapter 9: So What's Really Important?: The Role of Values and Ethics in Your Organization 103
Chapter 10: Building Community: Creating, Changing,
and Sustaining Culture in Your Organization 114
Chapter 11: Take Care of the Ones Who Matter:
Human Capital Development 125

Section 3: Time To Take the Next Steps 136
Chapter 12: Dream Big: Your Mission, Vision,
and Goals 137
Chapter 13: Don't Build Castles in the Sky: Focusing on the Right Things for the Right Reasons 146
Chapter 14: Bottom of the 9th: Some Parting Thoughts 157
Endnotes 162
Author Information 181

Editorial Reviews

"...packed with powerful ideas and practical advice for aspiring innovators and established entrepreneurs."
­-Franco Gandolfi, DBA Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics
The University of the South Pacific

Praise for

NEXT:
Reinventing Your Future
Through Innovation

"Fantastic insight on the issues with innovation in companies today. The book delivers a great understanding of how to effectively ignite innovation in your company. It also describes the roadblocks we hit when we try to innovate. Great roadmap to improving innovation in any company and I intend to buy several copies for senior and middle management."

-Toby Harris
Cofounder and Owner
Chief Executive Vice President
Movement Mortgage

"Prior to reading this book my view on innovation was that it was largely a problem the organizational 'mad scientist' had to solve while everyone else waited (and braced for) the next big disruptive idea. I can say from experience the following is true within that paradigm; implementation = pain and suffering for everyone.
Dr. Stone has pulled the elusive concept of organizational innovation down from the stratosphere of abstract ideas and given it shape and form. Organizational leaders that read Next will be equipped to bring innovation into the culture of their organizations from the C-suite all the way to the operating level.
Who knows what hangs in the balance when innovation at the seedling level withers and dies before it ever takes root because it lacks a knowledgeable gardener. This book explains what it takes to have a green thumb for leading successful organizational innovation."

-Casey Toomajian
CEO, Hometown Healthcare Inc.

"Next: Reinventing your Future through Innovation is packed with powerful ideas and practical advice for aspiring innovators and established entrepreneurs. A wonderful guide for people who want to make this world a better place."

­Franco Gandolfi, DBA
Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics
The University of the South Pacific

"In a world where business and leadership are often confused, and at a time where a more humane brand of innovation is sorely needed, this is definitely a book to watch or, better yet, read!"

-Bramwell Osula, Ph.D

"Dr. Stone challenges the reader to self-examine everything we have been taught about running a successful business. He describes how innovation is vital from the top to the bottom of an organization and how the results of this investment will manifest in the bottom line."

-Tracy Gregorio
President
G2 Ops, Inc.

"Dr. Stone has created an optimistic, necessary, timely, yet practical approach for practical businesses to identify the most effective ways to reinvent yourself and/or your business to keep up with our ever-changing environment called our world."

-Courtney Johnson
SVP, Consumer Market Manager
Bank of America

"You've heard 'Innovate or Die.' NEXT can teach you how to innovate and live.'"
-David Burkus, DSL, Best-Selling Author, Associate Professor of Management
Oral Roberts University

From the Publisher