 |
 |
 |
||||||||
|
What do the professionals say about this book? Professional Marketing magazine in the UK reviewed the original book and found it a compelling read for professional marketers. This review is by Kim Tasso of Professional Marketing magazine (www.pmforum.co.uk). "Looking like a Tom Peters book covered in copywriter-gone-mad sales slogans it would be easy to dismiss this book as lightweight and irrelevant to the professions. But as there is so little material around that provides a simple and pragmatic introduction to developing creativity. Let's face it; creativity is not exactly flowing within the legal, accountancy and property professions. You feel compelled to give it a go. Bernacki says that the heart of innovation is the ability to see things that do not yet exist. But he offers a warning to those who become over reliant on research: "Basing everything on research is like driving forward in your car by looking at the rear-view mirror." Sources of new innovative ideas are:
He observes that many businesses are better at solving problems than they are at creating opportunities. There is a sense of urgency for problems, but to create something new takes initiative, energy and time. Professional service firms should note that in his list of creativity inhibitors he includes "A strong influence of accountants and lawyers who try to control companies"! Later, it states: "Far too many employees have learned that they are expected to keep their heads down working rather than thinking. This must change. This is particularly true of professional services whose main 'tool' is knowledge, yet they charge for their time based on the number of minutes worked. Employees, particularly those whose main tool is 'knowledge', must be allowed some time to focus on making improvements." There are some flashes of insight, for example: "The innovation strategy has at its base the notion that we tend to achieve what we focus on." Part one of the book considers the systems and processes to help you find, develop and act on ideas. It has a chapter on evaluating how we make decisions in organizations, states that "our bosses do not listen to us" and offers a mechanism: "The Idea Factory is a business innovation strategy stressing ideas and knowledge as a competitive edge. It is based on two observations:
He says we must give ourselves permission to play - not a message that will go down well with objective-driven managers or time-jealous professionals. He states the golden rules for creating innovative organizations as:
Part two provides a tool kit. He advocates writing down the problem in a challenge statement to focus everyone on the results. He describes the role of brainstorming in addressing fact-finding, idea-finding and solution-finding phases. It highlights the problem of application, using the example of "Training within industries", which investigated ways to improve American production, which was ignored there but embraced successfully by Japanese industry. There is guidance for preparing your first idea session and an excellent template memo to send out in advance to help those attending. There is a good further reading list on creative techniques and a description and simple instructions for 13 tools. Towards the end there is a great summary/checklist on "How to set up your innovation centre" and the Appendix contains a good "innovation strategy framework". It's hardly a serious review of the significant research or academic information about developing creativity and innovation, so for those already well-versed in the subject, the book may appear superficial and repetitive. But for those encountering it for the first time and looking for pragmatic guidance, it will prove a relatively quick, painless and profitable read. I couldn't help thinking that it would be better for our senior partners to read it, as it sells the need for creativity management and provides a way to allocate time and space to allow ordinary workers to drive the process."
|
|
||||||||
 |
|
 |
||||||||
