Creating the Innovation Culture : Leveraging Visionaries, Dissenters & Other Useful Troublemakers [Hardcover]

Frances Horibe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2001

Why dissenters can be an organization's most valuable asset and how to transform dissent into innovation

Innovation is essential to competitive survival in today's global marketplace. But in the majority of traditional organizations, innovators are perceived as counter-productive dissenters, single-minded troublemakers who are difficult to manage and politically naive. Written by a leading international expert on change management, this groundbreaking book explores the vital link between the need for innovation in the e-business world and the new role of dissenters as agents for constructive change. With the help of numerous case examples and anecdotes, Frances Horibe helps managers appreciate the value that dissent can bring to an organization, and she provides proven strategies and hands-on advice on how to encourage innovation and manage creative dissent, while avoiding paralyzing conflicts. Readers learn about the new role of managers as political handlers who help develop and support new ideas and sell them to senior management, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"..This is a book which every conventional manager should read." (Modern Management, February 2002)

Review

"Frances Horibe's insightful narrative is both thought-provoking and entertaining. Creating the Innovation Culture is a vital part of any library— especially for those of us who toil daily to harness and encourage creativity. In business today, innovation is everything. This book is an exploration of the delicate balance between innovation and dissidence."
— Derek Burney, President and CEO, Corel Corporation

"It was George Bernard Shaw who once remarked with undeniable logic that all progress has to depend on the 'unreasonable man' because they are the ones who don't adapt to the world as it is. This, or course, makes perfect sense, but only up to the point where one is faced with having to deal with the reality of it in an organization.

"Whether you're one of the dissenters, someone managing dissent, or merely an observer, there's something in Creating the Innovation Culture for everyone— an understanding of dissent and innovation, advice, new ideas, and a hint of the consequences if we don't learn to deal with those 'unreasonable men.'"
— David Carlson, Vice President, Americas, Quality & Customer Relations, Alcatel

"In this lively, well written book, Horibe helps us realize that we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. She wisely points out that great leaders seek out and encourage people who will challenge them and their rules. This book is full of great tips on how to be this type of leader so you, too, can help innovation flourish in your organization."
— Susan Robinson, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Manulife Financial

"Creating the Innovation Culture shows us how to manage the most creative behaviour in an organization— dissent. It accurately and effectively describes why the need for dissent is so important to stimulate innovation that we must promote, support, and manage dissent if our businesses today are going to survive and flourish."
— Geoff Smith, Vice President, Business Development, Mitel

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 253 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471646288
• ISBN-13: 978-0471646280
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,816,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Many Minds Are Better Than One !, March 13, 2006

By 

Roger Peter Marec (Riverside, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating the Innovation Culture : Leveraging Visionaries, Dissenters & Other Useful Troublemakers (Hardcover)

This is a great book for the times as it exposes bare the efficiency/innovation dichotomy as the necessary yin/yang of organizational life. Innovators are often viewed derogatorily as dissenters. These 'dissenters' are culled from a larger group of 'complainers'. They are in fact quite valuable to the company if handled right. Corporte cultures rife with their emphasis mainly on 'best methods' have supressed the innovators of tomorrow's ideas. Unfortunately this suppression drives the innovator 'underground'. Underground dissension causes many problems in the corporate culture, the worst of these being whistle-blowing.

This book covers in detail the innovation killers. The types and characteristics of dissenters. How to be a 'political handler' of dissenters. How to coach dissenters. How to actively foster dissent and innovation. New concepts that enable this movement. How to surface existing dissent. How to manage the dissenter.

Remember that 7 out of 10 employees surveyed said they would not correct their boss even when they new he/she was wrong.

Five Stars

3.0 out of 5 stars Managing creative dissenters, February 18, 2003

By 

Bill Godfrey (Mt Stuart, TAS Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating the Innovation Culture : Leveraging Visionaries, Dissenters & Other Useful Troublemakers (Hardcover)

This is another example of the material for an excellent article expanded into a book that is best skimmed rather than read in depth. The thesis is simple - good innovation relies on people who are not committed to the status quo. The advice on how to handle dissenters from the status quo who have original minds is sound but sometimes a bit tedious and obvious. However, we need to remember Tom Peters dictum 'Obviously, the obvious is not so obvious', as Horibe demonstrates how often corporations shoot themselves in the foot.

The author's starting point is the vital necessity of innovation to the health and survival of corporations and the fact that innovation - good ideas carried through to market success - is typically disruptive to existing business and typically driven by people who are not wedded to the corporate status quo. Senior executives and the corporate structure itself on the other hand, tend consciously or unconsciously to make life difficult for these dissenting innovators. The book is about relationships between the dissenters and the corporate 'establishment' and how these relationships can be managed productively.

She points out the critical difference between continuous improvement and true innovation, which is frequently disruptive. Neither the drive for efficiency nor the trend to team working contribute directly to innovation in the wider sense and both may in fact work against it. She builds the case that it is dissenting individuals who have the vision and the passion to carry genuinely new ideas through to market success, but that typically in a large corporation they do not have the power to do so.

The core of the book is devoted to an analysis of the nature of dissent, how it is typically suppressed and what is needed for the management of an organization to recognize, support and encourage potentially productive dissent, while also maintaining sensible boundaries of authority.

Each chapter ends with a summary and statement of key points. My advice is to start with these and, if they are not obvious to you or you want further explanation, go back to the main text. The points made are well set out and logically developed, but I found the explanations and illustrations unnecessarily long-winded.

Managing dissenters is, of course, only one aspect - an important one - of the complex question of how to build and maintain a successful strategy of continuous innovation, supported by culture of innovation. A listing of books on the subject can be found on my site.