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5.0 out of 5 stars
Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire - Must Read, September 28, 2010
This review is from: Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire: A Roadmap to a Sustainable Culture of Ingenuity and Purpose (Hardcover)
With the plethora of books coming out on innovation, Braden Kelley's "Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire" is one you must get, read, mark up, and share. It is easy for anyone, from layman to expert, to read and understand, adopt and adapt. Braden provides readers with a toobox for innovation. The book provides practical, usable, adaptable tools for creating a (more) innovative culture in your own organization, regardless of size, shape and scope. There are guides, checklists, and real world examples from many industries. The approach is holistic, detailing the changes innovation makes to and for your customers, employees, suppliers, distribution system, marketing, sales and operations. Not many books provide such a thorough value-chain analysis. But more than that, Braden addresses the harder issues around innovation - the `soft' stuff. Very few books give the time and attention to the people and culture issues which are the hardest and most critical to success. The book has several sections about culture - how to get people engaged and stay engaged, how important trust is, how innovation is a social activity and even how your policies and procedures need to change to encourage innovation, with concrete examples instead of theory. If you're interested in really making innovation an integral part of your organization, then "Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire" is a must have that you will use over and over again and will remain a constant source of reference.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
You need to be aware of these dangers, and ask these questions, March 17, 2011
This review is from: Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire: A Roadmap to a Sustainable Culture of Ingenuity and Purpose (Hardcover)
Of the many thoughts, lessons, and tools I've taken from the book, I value the illumination of dangers and asking of necessary questions the most. Kelley considers innovation from the cultural stage-setting, to the selection and grooming of optimal solutions, through to sustainability of innovation. Each chapter helpfully outlines impediments to be aware of in the given context. Importantly, questions are also asked, which we can honestly answer ourselves as readers, and will ultimately challenge us to identify our innovation blind spots. One important aspect of the general message of the book is the emphasis placed upon the uncovering of insights in the innovation process - a key point that is often forgotten or trivialized by placing excess emphasis on idea generation. The simple (>1 page) case studies do a great job of illustrating why insights are so critical, as well as other concepts throughout.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Braden's book is a MUST READ!, March 3, 2011
This review is from: Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire: A Roadmap to a Sustainable Culture of Ingenuity and Purpose (Hardcover)
It's clear, from today's competitive markets, that innovation is not a luxury. As a result, Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire enjoys a prominent place on my bookshelf. In fact, it will do more than serve as an ongoing reference for me personally, as I've decided to give it as a prize at a number of my upcoming speaking engagements on innovation. Kelley's book is amazing in that it's a relatively short read (for busy professionals and executives) but is also extremely comprehensive. Effectively capturing innovation theory, Kelley also provides numerous case studies, lists, charts, and references to a website, with ancillary material. On a separate note, Kelley's blog, BloggingInnovation.com, is unparalleled! Its format is easily readable and contains many articles by prominent authors and thought leaders in the field of innovation including Tom Peters, Rowan Gibson, Matthew E May, Stephen Shapiro, and more. On a final note, it appears that the current myopic focus on speed and breakthrough innovation as an exclusive success strategy, is moderated by Kelley's emphasis on the importance of linking innovation strategies to the type of innovation that's required, as opposed to what may be in vogue at the moment. As a consultant who grounds much of her work in the organizational life cycle, I was really pleased to see how Kelley ties innovation strategy to "innovation maturity levels." In some organizations, "slow" or incremental innovation is clearly the most appropriate strategy, and Kelley validates this. I must say that I don't think there's a base that Kelley hasn't covered in this book, which is why I will enthusiastically read any additional books that he might publish in the future!
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