The Other Side of Innovation

by Govindarajan, Vijay

• ISBN13: 9781422166963
• ISBN10: 1422166961
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-02
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Pr

Summary

Companies can't survive without innovating. But most put far more emphasis on generating Big Ideas than on executing them--turning ideas into actual breakthrough products, services, and process improvements. That's because "ideating" is energizing and glamorous. By contrast, execution seems like humdrum, behind-the-scenes dirty work. But without execution, Big Ideas go nowhere. In The Other Side of Innovation, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble reveal how to execute an innovation initiative--whether a simple project or a grand, gutsy gamble. Drawing on examples from innovators as diverse as Allstate, BMW, Timberland, and Nucor, the authors explain how to: Build the Right Team: Determine who'll be on the team, where they'll come from, how they'll be organized, how much time they'll devote to the project, and how they'll navigate the delicate and conflict-rich partnership between innovation and ongoing operations. Manage a Disciplined Experiment: Decide how team members can quickly test their assumptions, translate results into new knowledge, and measure progress. Give innovation leaders a tough but fair performance evaluation. Practical and provocative, this new book takes you step-by-step through the innovation execution process--so your Big Ideas deliver their full promise.

Author Biography

Vijay "VG" Govindarajan (www.vg-tuck.com) is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business and the Founding Director of the Center for Global Leadership at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He is the 2008 Professor-in-Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant for General Electric and a leading expert on strategy and innovation. He lives in New Hampshire.

Chris Trimble is a frequent speaker and a Senior Fellow at Katzenbach Partners LLC (New York), a consulting firm that helps companies reach their strategic intent by offering a combination of analytic problem solving and insight into people and organization. He holds an MBA degree with distinction from the Tuck School, and a bachelor of science degree with highest distinction from the University of Virginia. He lives in Vermont.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction Making Innovation Happen	p. 1
Ideas are only beginnings
Conflict between innovation and ongoing operations is inevitable
Innovation initiatives require a special team and a special plan
Build the Team
Divide the Labor	p. 29
Define a partnership between a Dedicated Team and the Performance Engine
Understand the Performance Engine's limits
The Performance Engine must sustain excellence in ongoing operations
Assemble the Dedicated Team	p. 51
Don't build a Little Performance Engine
Act as though you are building a new company from scratch
Expect discomfort
Manage the Partnership	p. 75
Be positive, persuasive, and collaborative
Get help from senior executives
Anticipate conflict and act in advance
Run a Disciplined Experiment
Formalize the Experiment	p. 101
To get great results, focus on learning, not results
Talk about what you don't know
Make formal but routine revisions to the plan
Break Down the Hypothesis	p. 123
Draft a crystal-clear hypothesis of record
Focus on great conversations, not great spreadsheets
Create a custom scorecard
Seek the Truth	p. 143
Understand sources of bias
Expect your predictions to be wrong
Create a framework for accountability
Conclusion Moving On, Moving Up	p. 163
Assessment Tools	p. 181
Scholarly Foundations	p. 195
Index	p. 207
Acknowledgments	p. 217
About the Authors	p. 219
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