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Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast

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In the first chapter Carroll write, "The rate of change today - whether with business models, product lifecycles, skills and knowledge, marketing methodologies or customer support concepts - is speeding up. We live in a world where being faster is better than being fast.

That is why innovation is the most important word that you need to be thinking about. Innovation is all about adapting to the future - and if the future is coming at you faster, then you need to innovate faster. Innovation shouldn't be about trying to survive the future - it should be about thriving."

The book is organized into 37 short chapters in six sections - Introduction, Velocity, Agility, Innovation, Activity, and Closing. Each chapter is easy to read in a short sitting, an advantage. But, I found that I lost the continuity easily.

If the future is coming at us faster, how do you keep up? It's really very simple. You listen in. "The globe has become one massive idea generation machine, with new ideas being created instantly everywhere, on a continuous non-stop basis."

"You do that by developing a culture that supports a highly tuned radar, radar that listens to the global infinite idea loop ... the future is being developed all around you, and your success comes from your ability to plug into it! How can you do this? By participating!"

"Devote 15 - 20 minutes per day to catch up on the new ideas which are emerging."

"That simple activity - learning to tune in - will provide you with insight and ideas, which are themselves the fuel for innovative thinking."

In Chapter 7, Carroll asks the question, "Is your brand from the olden days?" He uses the recent history of Sony as a cautionary tale. Sony has gone from being perceived as a leader in innovation to one that is slow to act. He analysis the history and decides that there fell behind because:

* "they failed to keep up with the rapid growth and demand for flat panel TV's and other hot new technologies - they failed with market agility
* They decided that going to war with customers in order to prevent music piracy (by slipping destructive software onto the CD's) was more important than developing great technology that caught the next wave of consumer electronics, particularly MP3 players
* They dropped the ball on the necessity for continuous operational excellence, as evidenced by a disastrous recall of laptop batteries"

To assess your own brand, he suggests the following:

* You are out of tune with your customers
* Customers see a lack of innovation
* Lousy, ineffective customer service
* You don't know that your customers know more about your brand than you do
* A lack of purpose or urgency
* A lack of market and competitive intelligence

Some quotable quotes:

"Innovation is critical, yet you must approach creativity and innovation with an understanding that your every move will be analyzed and instantly subjected to a global up or down vote."

"Success is not defined by how long a product will last in the market place, but by how quickly you can get a new product out there before it's out of date."

"From an innovation perspective, you've got to constantly assess whether you've got the depth and scope of skills that you might require as the world goes high velocity."

"Just in time knowledge: a form of continuous learning that is instant, fast and urgent. The right knowledge at the right time for the right purpose for the right strategy."

"Innovation is about everything an organization does and how it does it."

"There is no more debate about the need to break down silos; they are gone. What remains is a desire to learn from each other, and build on common insight."

Carroll identifies nine key elements of a successful innovative culture:

* Growth orientation
* The ability to cost-manage and grow at the same time
* A translatable vision
* Time to market is critical
* Internal collaboration
* Transition at top from managers to leaders
* At every level, there is a tactical to strategic conversion
* A partnership orientation
* Global skills access is a key success factor

This book is full of insights and check lists to help you assess and plan a change to a more innovative organization.

'Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast', by Jim Carroll;

'Change' & 'innovation' are seemingly two most commonly used (or abused?) buzz words in the corporate world, which, from my perspective, readily capture the essence of the challenges faced by all of us today.

The subject of 'change' - agility & flexibility in dealing with a world turned upside down - & 'innovation' - doing things differently to survive & thrive - have continued to fascinate me for many years.

I have read a lot about the subject, & I am also always on the constant lookout for more new perspectives. Hence, to my pleasant delight, I have stumbled upon the work of futurist, trends & innovation expert Jim Carroll on the net.

Through Amazon, I have managed to acquire - & then read in earnest about a couple of months ago - his two books, namely, 'What I learned from Frogs in Texas: Saving Your Skin with Forward-Thinking Innovation' (2004) & 'Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast' (2007).

Since the first book has already been reviewed by me on Amazon, I am now reviewing the second book here.

Backed by reportedly impeccable credentials from the big boys, e.g. American Express, Disney, IBM, Microsoft, & acknowledged by 'BusinessWeek' as a thought leader, the author writes almost like corporate skunk Tom Peters - "screwing people's mind . . . taking them to the brink & then pulling them back", to paraphrase Tom Peters.

As a matter of fact, I reckon, at least from my perspective, his writings more or less emulate my other favourite authors on 'Change' & 'Innovation', Robert Kriegel, Louis Patler, Price Pritchett, all rolled into one - short, staccato bursts of energetic prescriptions, occasionally outrageous & yet written succinctly, with enchanting anecdotes & provocative examples from real-world events, in contrast to the staid academic texts of the time.

Having said that, let me get down to the specifics of my overall response of the two books.

In a nut shell, I must say that there are a lot of interesting stuff in the two books, but they are not necessarily unfamiliar or essentially new to most well-read businesspeople:

e.g. "65% of pre-school children today will be employed in careers & jobs that don't yet exist"; "most people will find themselves not only in 4 or 5 different jobs in their lifetime, but in 4 or 5 different careers"; "the 1/2 life of an engineer 's knowledge is about 5 years";

although as one reads from page to page, one can easily get that little jolt, & then seriously reflect on what the author is talking about.

In fact, I must also bring reader's immediate attention to the fact that much of what he has to say in the two books is made somewhat more compelling, when his astute observations of the marketspace are viewed critically as called by the author.

What I like about the two books after perusal is that one can readily open up any page, anywhere in the two books, read for a few minutes, & actually gain some new perspectives from the reading experience.

In fact, that's how I have enjoyed reading the two books, one bite at a time, over a few weeks, some time ago, because I always have this ingrained habit of reading several books by different authors in one go.

From the intellectual standpoint, I consider the second book as a follow-up of the first book.

This time the focus of the second book is on building what the author calls 'high-velocity change leadership' in a fast-paced world.

In this book, he author provides unique insights into how to innovate faster, with multi-skill talent or creative ingenuity as well as project agility to serve as key cornerstones.

As he puts it, "Forget about the concept of innovation as simply involving the design of cool new products. In the high-velocity economy, where faster is the new fast, it's your ability to adapt, change, & evolve, through a constant flood of new ideas, that will define your potential for success."

Apparently for reader's convenience, the author has skillfully organised all his relevant stuff under four over-arching tactical segments:

- 'velocity' (with 8 sub-segments);

- 'agility' (with 6 sub-segments);

- 'innovation' (with 11 sub-segments);

- 'activity' (with 8 sub-segments); [Frankly, I would have thought that the more appropriate label here should have been 'execution' or even 'action-mindedness', since he describes "what you should start doing now to elevate the importance of your innovation efforts"];

Rather than dwelling on what's all in the book, I will share with readers about what I have taken away from the book:

- 'Take the 10 Things Test' (pg 29-34) - Essentially sit in a room, whether at work, home or in a factory, retail store or wherever you might be, & take a look around. Compile a list of 10 items that you see, & then sit back & ask yourself, "How might these things change in the next decade?"

If you really took the time to think about the items you examine, you might be very surprised by the depth of the change that is coming;

[This is certainly a very interesting exercise, & I will share my own little experiment in a separate post!]

- '10 Unique Characteristics of 21st Century Skills' (pg 67-71);

- 'Just in Time Knowledge' (pg 79-82);

- 'How Can You Identify Areas/Opportunities for Innovation' (pg 109-112

[As the author's treatment here is a broad-brush, I suggest reading Michel Robert's 'Innovation Formula'. Please refer to my earlier review on Amazon.]

- '21st Century Capital' (pg 141-144);

- 'Is It Time for an Innovation Audit?' (pg 149-152);

[This one is really cool!]

- 'Focus on Developing your Masters in Business Imagination' (pg 169-173);

[as opposed to the traditional MBA. To be frank, this is a really good & refreshing one!]

Although I have singled out these few sub-segments, I just want to point out this doesn't mean that the other sub-segments are not worth reading about.

I note that the author's closing 10+1 'Great Words' for everyday use in the workplace, as transformational grammar to help you get into the right frame of mind, namely [words in brackets are extracted by me for the author's descriptions]:

- Observe (trends);

- Think (to learn);

- Change (routines);

- Dare (to risk);

- Banish (killer phrases)

- Try [The author should have used 'Experiment'; Try? No try; Do! or Do Not! Remember, the Star Wars movie, 'The Empire Strikes Back'];

- Empower (everybody);

- Question (assumptions);

- Grow (by grabbing opportunities);

- Do (to renew);

- Enjoy (your passion);

is undoubtedly an excellent & timely way to return to his earlier book. He sums up his proposition from the very beginning, during which he argues about mind frame change as a prerequisite to forward-thinking:

"Rapid times require bold change; action is critical. Confront your tin cans (another of his metaphors for "stuck in the rut", e.g. 'aggressive indecision'), & you've got the right leadership frame of mind to take you into the future."

Incidentally, just for the fun of it, I would suggest readers to compare the foregoing 10+1 action verbs with the 26 action verbs from futurist Frank Feather's 'Futuristic Leadership A-Z'. Please refer to my earlier review on Amazon.

If you love Tom Peters' work just like I do, I am confident that Jim Carroll will not disappoint you for a change. The latter is equally provocative & vibrant in his writing.

Reviewed by Lee Say Keng, Knowledge Adventurer & Technology Explorer, November 2008