The Open Innovation Revolution: Essentials, Roadblocks, and Leadership Skills [Hardcover]

Stefan Lindegaard (Author), Guy Kawasaki (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0470604395 | ISBN-13: 978-0470604397 | Edition: 1

Life is not exactly a bed of roses for most innovation leaders and intrapreneurs—those assertive, innovative, corporate risk-takers who passionately turn ideas into profitable products. They take on corporate sacred cows and face down challenges that would cause less driven and less talented people to quickly throw their hands down in defeat. They struggle daily to unleash entrepreneurial thinking while dealing with an army of people fiercely dedicated to maintaining the status quo.

The question for business leaders is simple: How can innovation leaders and intrapreneurs freely operate in a corporation that wants to keep things the way they are? The answer is also simple…Read The Open Innovation Revolution.

This practical guide reveals that, without the right people to drive innovation processes, your odds of success shrink dramatically. And as open innovation becomes the norm, developing the right people skills—networking, communicating with stakeholders, building your personal brand and the ability to sell ideas—is essential for your innovation leaders and intrapreneurs.

Starting with a foreword from world-changing innovator and bestselling author Guy Kawasaki, The Open Innovation Revolution looks closely at:

• Open innovation—the visionary model that more and more companies are adopting
• Innovation leaders and intrapreneurs—and the essential elements that must be put in place for these people to thrive
• The people-related roadblocks that can impede innovation and some ways these can be overcome
• The personal leadership skills you will need to develop as an innovation leader or intrapreneur

Written by innovation thought leader Stefan Lindegaard, The Open Innovation Revolution helps you know if open innovation is right for your organization, and then shows you how to prepare those within your organization to make the leap into the challenging, new world of open innovation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In his new book, The Open Innovation Revolution: Essentials, Roadblocks and Leadership Skills, Lindegaard outlines 10 essential elements of an open innovation culture. What makes this list even more compelling than usual is that it comes not just from the mind of the author, but from some top-notch open innovation practitioners in Stefan's Linkedin group. I have only just begun to read The Open Innovation Revolution, but am already impressed with Stefan's thinking. He's not some ivory tower prognosticator, but a relentless networker who gets out there and develops relationships with key open innovation movers like Thoen and encourages discussion on his Linkedin group. In other words, Stefan's approach is very inclusive; by seeking out many voices, he has developed a deeper understanding of the emerging strategies and practices of open innovation than almost anyone else I know. If your company is thinking about implementing an open innovation strategy, then The Open Innovation Revolution is a must read." (Bob Morris, FirstFridayBookSynopsis, 6/15/10)

From the Inside Flap

Life is not exactly a bed of roses for most innovation leaders and intrapreneurs—those assertive, innovative, corporate risk-takers who passionately turn ideas into profitable products. They take on corporate sacred cows and face down challenges that would cause less driven and less talented people to quickly throw their hands down in defeat. They struggle daily to unleash entrepreneurial thinking while dealing with an army of people fiercely dedicated to maintaining the status quo.

The question for business leaders is simple: How can innovation leaders and intrapreneurs freely operate in a corporation that wants to keep things the way they are? The answer is also simple: read The Open Innovation Revolution.

This practical guide reveals that, without the right people to drive innovation processes, your odds of success shrink dramatically. And as open innovation becomes the norm, developing the right people skills—networking, communicating with stakeholders, building your personal brand, and the ability to sell ideas—is essential for your innovation leaders and intrapreneurs.

Starting with a Foreword from world-changing innovator and bestselling author Guy Kawasaki, The Open Innovation Revolution looks closely at:

• Open innovation—the visionary model that more and more companies are adopting
• Innovation leaders and intrapreneurs—and the essential elements that must be put in place for these people to thrive
• The people-related roadblocks that can impede innovation and some ways these can be overcome
• The personal leadership skills you will need to develop as an innovation leader or intrapreneur

Innovation thought leader Stefan Lindegaard helps you know if open innovation is right for your organization and then shows you how to prepare those within your organization to make the quantum leap to open innovation as the new normal.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470604395
• ISBN-13: 978-0470604397
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #550,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an author, speaker and strategic advisor who focus on the topics of open innovation, social media tools and thought leadership.

I believe open innovation requires a global perspective and I have given talks and worked with companies on open innovation in Europe, South America, the U.S. and Asia. My last book is The Open Innovation Revolution and my blog is a globally recognized destination on open innovation. You can read further at http://www.15inno.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A handbook for individuals leading open innovation June 18, 2010

By Jeffrey Phillips VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I've just had a chance to read a new book by Stefan Lindegaard, who is an active innovation consultant and blogger. If you follow innovation topics on the web, you may have seen his site, [...], or seen him on Twitter, where his handle is @lindegaard. At any rate Stefan is an active participant in the online innovation community, and is always worth listening to.

Stefan's area of focus is open innovation, and his new book, The Open Innovation Revolution, is a book meant to provide the ground work for any firm considering an open innovation approach. Stefan's approach is very pragmatic, and the reason I like it is that he takes a very top down, strategic approach to innovation. After introducing what open innovation is and why it matters, he quickly turns his attention to the "mandate" for open innovation. He discusses innovation strategy and strategic purposes, what we at OVO call "strategic intent". Innovation is often a "bolt-on" process that conflicts with strategy rather than a carefully integrated capability, so this focus on strategy rings very true.

He then turns his attention to people and culture, which are the right focus areas. To be successful at open innovation, we need to identify the best partners to work with and also change the thinking inside the firm. The predominant thinking in most firms is to protect intellectual property and to assume "we know best". In a firm focused on open innovation, the presumptive thinking is: we can identify the best ideas, ours or someone else's. It took P&G and Lafley to make this thinking acceptable in the Fortune 500.

Stefan then turns his attention to the individual or team that will lead the open innovation initiative and provides these individuals with insight and support, especially focused on overcoming internal barriers, building a new culture and communicating effectively.

I found it interesting that he didn't spend a lot of time trying to categorize the different "types" of open innovation. Open innovation runs the gamut from solutions like Dell's IdeaStorm to solutions provided by Innocentive to proprietary networks built by firms like P&G. There are a range of approaches that will satisfy very different needs. Additionally, I was a bit surprised that Stefan didn't discuss more about the challenges of intellectual property when considering an open innovation model. When working with a number of customers, partners and vendors, identifying intellectual property, who owns it and who claims it can be a very dicey problem.

This book is addressed to the people who will lead an open innovation initiative, so in some cases it takes on a coaching or consultative voice. The book has a lot of what appear to be verbatim interviews with executives who are conducting open innovation initiatives and each chapter includes a recap and recommendations.

Any individual or team tasked with starting an open innovation program should check out The Open Innovation Revolution.

Cross posted from my blog Innovate on Purpose

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good primer July 7, 2010

By Braden Kelley

Format:Hardcover

A few weeks ago I received "The Open Innovation Revolution" by Stefan Lindegaard in the mail. "The Open Innovation Revolution" is an approachable 200 pages, and is an easy, and pleasant read.

Stefan Lindegaard is contributor to Blogging Innovation and is a speaker, network facilitator and strategic advisor who focuses on the topics of open innovation, intrapreneurship and how to identify and develop the people who drive innovation.

The book tries to tackle the hot topic of open Innovation. If you're not familiar with open innovation, the basic idea is that it is not all of the smart people in the world that could contribute to your organization's success, live within the organization's four walls. Open innovation is when an organization pursues innovation with the assistance of brains outside the organization - sometimes publicly, sometimes privately.

Most books on innovation focus on ideation, creativity, or the process for managing innovation, but open innovation requires a different mindset and a different set of skills, mindsets, and culture to execute successfully because the organization does not control all of the resources in this approach. "The Open Innovation Revolution" gives you a peek at what some of the leading organizations in the open innovation revolution are doing and some of the things that you need to think about and plan for.

The book is broken into three main sections:

* The Essentials
* Roadblocks
* Personal Leadership for Open Innovation

Here are some of the core principles from the book to spark your thinking:

* Open innovation is very much about the bridging of internal and external resources to make innovation happen

* "Embracing the outside requires that you really know the inside."

* Very few companies have an innovation strategy, and even fewer have properly integrated open innovation into their innovation strategy instead of just trying to bolt it on.

* There are three fundamental questions you must ask yourself before embarking on a journey toward open innovation
1. What will open innovation do to our business model?
2. How will your organizational chart change to accommodate open innovation?
3. What does this mean to my role as a manager or leader?

* There are many important elements to a successful open innovation culture including: overcoming NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome, understanding that open innovation requires open communication, striving for a balance of internal and external R&D, and more.

* It is important to effectively identify and develop the people who will drive open innovation for the organization

* Organizations that are successful at open innovation AND that are successful at innovation in general have a strong networking culture (in other words, people in the organization are good at connecting to others inside and outside the organization who have something to contribute)

* Organizations are built and executives are rewarded for operating the existing business efficiently, not for taking on the new and the risky

* Business plan competitions are not just for universities - many corporations organize them internally to get ideas from their staff

Taken all together I think "The Open Innovation Revolution" provides a good introduction to open innovation for those who are curious about the topic, and for those who might be finding themselves suddenly thrust forward to potentially lead their organization's open innovation efforts.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Human Side of Open Innovation August 19, 2010

By Michael Docherty

Format:Hardcover

I've read Stefan Lindegaard's new book The Open Innovation Revolution and found it to be an easy read, written obviously by someone (Stefan) who is passionate about the topic. It is a great primer for companies, and especially mid-level managers new to the open innovation trend. Those who are looking for a deeper analysis of emerging tools (software, best practices) and approaches to overcoming some of the 'stickier' parts of OI (such as intellectual property rights) may be left a bit longing. But with that said, Stefan has focused (and I think intentionally and rightly) on the leadership and organizational aspects of OI. He has done an excellent job of creating a handbook for the enlightened middle manager of an established company hoping to begin or expand their open innovation efforts. I especially like his focus (Chapter 6) on the Networked Innovation Culture and the need to build a culture and mentality of networking as a core element of OI. I also liked his treatment of identifying and Defeating the Corporate Antibodies (Chapter 8), though in this case, wished for some more and deeper actionable advice.

It's surprising to see so few books following after Henry Chesbrough's seminal Open Innovation a few years back... a lot has transpired in this area, with Open Innovation moving from a leading edge approach to a much more mainstream activity. It's also crossing from R&D into marketing and other functions, as well as taking on a variety of new forms... from collaborative networks, crowdsourcing, consortia and many related forms of open innovation. Stefan's book does an excellent job of addressing the basics of open innovation and hopefully will find a broad business audience. It provides practical tools and shares experience from leaders in the market, and I hope it inspires more people to undertake open innovation initiatives. Much of his advice will help more of these initiatives succeed I'm sure.