Customer Reviews

What's the Big Idea? Creating and Capitalizing on the Best New Management Thinking

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Within a few hours of reading this latest book co-authored by Davenport and Prusak with H. James Wilson, I went into a meeting with the senior managers of one of my consulting clients. The only item on the agenda was the perceived need for generating more suggestions from among the company's 575 employees. More specifically, suggestions as to how to produce more and better work in less time and thereby lower operating costs while increasing productivity and improving efficiency. (Sound familiar?) Still absorbing Davenport and Prusak's information and (especially) insights, I posed for the group a series of questions:

1. Is this company idea-driven?

2. Are workers encouraged to suggest new/better ideas?

3. Are they convinced each suggestion will be carefully considered?

4. Are the best ideas then recognized and rewarded?

5. Are those suggestions then acted upon in a timely manner?

Long pause. Silence. The senior managers resembled what Darrell Royal once described as "a young goat staring at a new gate." Clearing of throats. Finally, the CEO asked "Well, what about it?" Finally, those in the group admitted that the answer to all of the was the same: sometimes. Translation: Seldom.

In Working Knowledge (1997), Davenport and Prusak explain how organizations manage what they know. In The Good Company (2001), Cohen and Prusak explain how social capital makes organizations work. In this volume, Davenport and Prusak explain how to create and capitalize on the best management thinking. However, any business idea (no matter how BIG it may seem to some) is essentially worthless unless and until it contributes to business success. In this volume, they focus on "idea practitioners" and "gurus." The former are those within an organization who assess and translate and develop new ideas to bring into the organization and subsequently fight for them. The latter are "boundary spanners" who work with rather than within an organization, sharing what they have learned from their exposure to both theory and practice-oriented ideas as they interact with companies ("the primary source of their ideas"), think and write (analyses for clients as well as articles and books for publication), and present their ideas at meetings and conferences (thereby attracting attention and new clients as well as earning substantial appearance fees). Davenport and Prusak examine the work of several dozen "idea practitioners" and "gurus." In Appendix C, they rank "The Top Two Hundred Business Gurus," with the top five being Michael Porter, Tom Peters, Robert Reich, Peter Drucker, and Gary Becker.

Carefully organizing their material within nine chapters, Davenport and Prusak explain how ideas are linked to business success, who introduces ideas to organizations and how they do that, why "content counts," where the best management ideas come from, how ideas interact with markets, where to find ideas most appropriate to a given organization and then how to sell them, and why idea-based leadership is essential to any organization's success. I've already mentioned Appendix C. The other two, Appendices A and B, provide "A Select Survey of Business and Management Ideas" and "The Idea Practitioners."

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first single volume in which cutting-edge thinking about intellectual capital, social capital, creative business thinking, process simplification/improvement, knowledge management, and idea leadership is not only combined but correlated and indeed integrated into what can be (with certain modifications) a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system for generating the best ideas and then effectively putting them into practice.

At the outset of the review, I presumed to include the five questions posed to the senior managers. After re-reading this book, I am even more convinced that these are questions which decision-makers must ask inorder to determine the extent to which their organization is not only receptive to new and better ideas but wholeheartedly determined to generate or adopt and then implement them. Davenport and Prusak are dead on: There must be an Idea Strategy. More importantly, there must be an Idea-Friendly Culture which has (a) open dialogue between and among ALL levels, (b) what Jack Welch calls "boundarylessness" which maximizes individual and collective intellect from both within and outside the organization, and finally, (c) trust and responsibility which will, Davenport and Prusak assert, "allow people to learn effectively from each other and provide motivation for putting ideas to work."

This book is certain to become a business "classic."

Chances are you feel you've read books like this before. WHAT makes an idea work? WHO in an organization makes it work? WHY are idea practitioners not always rewarded or recognized? IS your organization stifling the flow of ideas or motivating ANYONE to come up with them?

Yet, veering around interviews with 100 or so actual idea practitioners, this offering from Davenport et al has a very specific thematic intent and does a fabulous job of it. Below are some thoughts that form the spine of this brilliant work --

(1) It is usually the same people who advance new business approaches at organizations. It's a whole class of people who have never been exalted to the status of high-profile business gurus (Porter, Tom Peters, Drucker, Hammer etc) despite being the ones to _actualize_ the ambitious ponderings of the Porters and Druckers of our world.

(2) And no, rarities like Jack Welch may be more of an exception than the rule. Most idea practitioners are not on a fast track to the corner office. Most of them believe that they could probably have done better within the company if they had instead focused their careers on power and responsibility.

(3) Yet, many of these people can't help themselves. They tend to gravitate to the jobs that have more intellectual content.

(4) It is the contribution of these folk that gives companies competitive edges in times of an economic slump or industry stagnation/maturation, or even an elevated "perceived" business performance resulting in improved shareholder value and morale.

(5) None of the above is conveyed in the form of fluffy business wisdom tripe. A smattering of examples from around the world support all the authors' theses -- failing K-Mart versus the expanding Walmart, the nearly bygone Westinghouse versus GE, Cemex in Mexico, Holcim in Switzerland etc.

(6) Finally, amidst the profiles of the idea practitioners the authors attempt to offer a framework to evaluate and execute ideas. As for evaluation, they recommend running the idea through the litmus of the CLASSIC THREE of strategy (Efficiency, Effectiveness and Innovation). This does not come off as altogether fresh although the suggested framework is useful. As for execution, we are left more or less with the interviews and the thoughts therein.

Overall, I'd say this is an engrossing book and the actual success stories are inspiring (perhaps a decent springboard for ideas too). The organization of the content could have been a little bit better but you don't have to be a true believer in the power of management ideas to appreciate the value of this book in our management thinking driven times.

An important, interesting read.

A most interesting and delightfully opinionated book is the latest offering from Tom Davenport and Larry Prusack. Easily digested, this book attempts to `out-meta' the competition in the game of management idea mindshare, by giving a framework by which other ideas are evaluated for their applicability to your organization. `He who owns the process wins' is an oft-quoted cliché at ManyWorlds.com and this book makes a good claim for the process. But more seriously, it does introduce some important (dare I say new) thinking into the faddish and/or fatigued of management ideas.

The most critical of those is that of the `idea practitioner' - the role of the unsung heroes in organizations that translate the guru's missives from on high to that of the real-world working business. They are defined as `individuals who use business improvement ideas to bring about change in organizations'. And to help you seek out these people in your company, Davenport and Prusack helpfully profile a number of real idea practitioners across a range of companies such as BP, Clarica, World Bank, BIC and many others. But chances are that if you are attracted to this book, you are probably an idea practitioner yourself, even in latent form.

The idea practitioner is an idea filterer who possesses the key skills of `translation, harmonization and timing' and applies them to new ideas around the organization. It's the skill of knowing when to introduce an idea, to maximize its impact and benefit to the organization.

What's the Big Idea? examines the lifecycles of ideas, internal and external adoption rates as well as describing the categories of gurus. These include academic gurus (think Michael Porter), consultant gurus (think Adrian Slywotzky), practicing manager gurus (think Jack Welch) and journalist gurus (think Tom Stewart). Of course these categories are blurred but the distinction is useful. An interesting step would be to consider what type of guru your company seems most interested in. My guess would be that hard asset companies are likely to be swayed by practicing manager and consultant type gurus, high growth companies by journalist gurus and very large enterprises by academic gurus.

But the problem with being an idea practitioner is while you may be rewarded by a good profile in Davenport's next book, you may not be appreciated for your network and filtering skills by your own organization. Indeed, pursuing your interest in ideas may only be tolerated once you have proved yourself in more operational roles. Even so, such an idea driven route can be career limiting, since in every idea you sell to the organization, there will always be an ounce of personal credibility that has to go with it. But by taking the core of the idea, the `zeitgeist' and perhaps even innovating a little on top of it to make it more acceptable to your organization, you can build on the foundation of initiatives before it.

Which is just as ideas themselves do. In every idea, the authors would argue, there is a kernel of good practice that should be adopted. The problem is that there is often so much emotion wrapped up around a guru, or a leading company or the idea itself is that this kernel is often ignored or dismissed. But gurus themselves are also guilty of this practice. They often battle against each other, dismiss others' ideas or do not give credit to their sources, teams or inspiration. Sounds just like the local management corporate politics wrestled with in 90% of companies, doesn't it? Thus the role of idea practitioner becomes all the more important to the corporation, navigating both the external and internal battlefields.

Overall, a highly recommended read .Additional highlights including a non-partisan ranking of the top 200 business gurus (contrast that with our traffic based rankings on ManyWorlds.com) and an interview with the immensely smart Steve Kerr, previously CLO at GE and now at Goldman Sachs, on how he `idea practitions'.

For anyone who has felt overwhelmed by the barrage of business and management ideas and movements, and at times even skeptical of their individual and cumulative claims, and that is most of us, this is the perfect book. Davenport and Prusak are veterans of the last two decades of management revolutions-they have been in the game long enough to look back at some of the ideas with which they have been associated with critical detachment, and to make some novel and deep sociological observations about how ideas get made, marketed, used, abused, and superceded. However, they are less interested in a blanket judgment on the idea trade than in taking a closer look and identifying what works and who is doing the working. According to D & P, none of the ideas pushed over the past couple of decades is entirely new, and none is without merit. However, none of the ideas is, or ever was, the best solution for each company in every set of circumstances. So much depends on the particular company's situation, and so much of a company's success depends on those inside the corporation-the "idea practitioners"-who select, advocate, refine, and implement the otherwise general and abstract ideas of management gurus. D & P (& W) have done a great service in refocusing attention and credit from the brand names to the practitioners, without, of course, slighting the great contributions of gurus, like themselves, to the agility and productivity of the modern enterprise.

The general overall structure of the first half of this text is sound and provides some food for thought to individuals trying to understand the psyche of creators and practitioners. Where this book shines is that it correctly points out that there are those that create, those that implement, and those that sustain any given idea, and that to be successful, a company needs a good dose of the second variety.

However, the second half of the book spends a lot of time trying to determine what made the best business theorists popular and this information is limited in a practical sense. It appears that there is some regret by the authors that they aren't considered "stars" and way too much time is spent trying to determine why "reengineering" became a negative term and how their pioneering thought should have been the standard. Unfortunately, these tangential aspects are a significant portion of the reading.

The section on knowledge management is a bit out of place, but it is a great topic in and of itself. More time should have been devoted to why KM is an important part of a company's ability to create. In summary, the book is O.K., but you might want to wait for the paperback or find it used.

Davenport and Prusak explore a great concept ... idea practitioners that take management ideas and make them work for companies. Anyone that is always trying to take the best management thinking and make it work in their company will find that this book resonates.

The book explores the concept of idea practitioners, management gurus, marketing ideas internally and adapting them to your organization. It makes the case that behind the market hype of new ideas there are some good management practices that you should be considering for your organization. And that you need to find and nurture the people in your organization that drive adoption of these ideas. It's worth reading this one with The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge.

While the concept is explored in depth, the book doesn't really provide much in the way of take-aways, ideas that you can put in practice. Great concept but only a good book.

For anyone who has felt overwhelmed by the barrage of business and management ideas and movements, and at times even skeptical of their individual and cumulative claims, and that is most of us, this is the perfect book. Davenport and Prusak are veterans of the last two decades of management revolutions-they have been in the game long enough to look back at some of the ideas with which they have been associated with critical detachment, and to make some novel and deep sociological observations about how ideas get made, marketed, used, abused, and superceded. However, they are less interested in a blanket judgment on the idea trade than in taking a closer look and identifying what works and who is doing the working. According to D & P, none of the ideas pushed over the past couple of decades is entirely new, and none is without merit. However, none of the ideas is, or ever was, the best solution for each company in every set of circumstances. So much depends on the particular company's situation, and so much of a company's success depends on those inside the corporation-the "idea practitioners"-who select, advocate, refine, and implement the otherwise general and abstract ideas of management gurus. D & P (& W) have done a great service in refocusing attention and credit from the brand names to the practitioners, without, of course, slighting the great contributions of gurus, like themselves, to the agility and productivity of modern enterprise.

This book was a great read discredited in chapter 8. The authors did a fantastic job summarizing what makes ideas work in an organization and the business model of business gurus. Their writing style was very readable, entertaining and enjoyable making this a good read that is easily recommendable. However, in chapter 8 they speak to close to their history and represent a view of knowledge management that may not be shared by all readers. One sentence highlighting that in a chapter that is otherwise represents their bias is not enough. Also, in chapter 9, the questions presented to an idea practictioner were leading. I will however find myself quoting the book so it is still a recommended read to broaden your thought leadership and success in pushing ideas forward. For the consultant make sure you complement this book with something that allows you to capture the client's view of value.

This book describes the role of Idea Practioners. Idea practioners are employees who introduce new ideas into the organizations where they work. Their role is separate from those of managers and those of gurus. As the authors note, the recognition of the role of idea practioners is long overdue and this book is an attempt at describing their impact. The authors interviewed various idea practioners and provide a good overview of their work.

However I felt that the book did not address the subject well. The discussion is very generic. For example the authors describe the ideal idea practioners as being well-repsected, having an advanced education, being curious, and having networking skills. This is likely true but surely not all that is required. What are the specific skills and methods used by successful idea practioners? These are not described in the book.

The authors also write about the spread of re-engineering vs. the spread of knowledge management. The conclusion of these chapters is that some gurus are good (the authors) and some are bad (their competitors). The discussion is childish and adds very little to the topic of the book (idea practioners' role is hardly mentioned).

I found the aim of the book to be good but the execution to be lacking. This book offers little new or interesting.

Ideas are a major ingredient of innovation; Davenport & Prusak has done a great job in illustrating the dyanmic of ideas in organizational context, as well as how managers & leaders can effectively capitalize on business & management ideas. There are a couple sections in 'What's The Big Idea' that I enjoyed very much: An interview with Steve Kerr, and a list of the top 200 business gurus (with the underlying ranking mechanism) in the appendix.