Search Results for: Innovation

‘Ilene is the winner of the all-time WOW! Award. Ilene took my ideas at the Tom Peters Company and created a repeatable process for companies to implement. The business results produced were consistently off the charts.’
Tom Peters, author of multiple #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Thriving on Chaos and In Search of Excellence.

Why do 70% of organizational transformations fail – even with brilliant strategies and dedicated leaders?
The answer lies not in what organizations are doing, but in how they are designed to respond to disruption. In an era of relentless change characterized by digital transformation, market volatility, talent crises, and the AI revolution, traditional management approaches are becoming obsolete. The single most important leadership skill today is systems thinking.

Innovation Ecosystems introduces a revolutionary framework for thinking and acting systemically that enables organizations to harness change for competitive advantage.

Drawing on 35 years of consulting across healthcare, biotech, technology, and Fortune 500 companies, Ilene Fischer sets out nine forces reshaping every industry, and delivers a proven dynamic blueprint for embedding innovation the DNA of your organization.

Discover how to:
-Build thriving ecosystems where collaboration fuels breakthrough innovation
-Align culture, people, and technology to drive sustainable growth
-Build organizational agility while retaining operational excellence
-Ignite engagement that turns every employee into an innovator and champion for the organization
-Navigate mergers, reorganizations, and rapid scaling with confidence and strategic clarity

Developed and refined through partnerships with Peter Senge’s Innovation Associates and the Tom Peters Company, this approach gives you the practical tools to stop fighting fires one by one and start creating reinforcing feedback loops that build momentum, excitement and off-the-chart results. Lead your organization into an uncertain future with strategic readiness and purpose.

Innovation has become a mantra for organizations facing unprecedented market pressures and worldwide competition. But can it be taught or developed as a core competency? Are there rules for turning great ideas into breakthrough innovations that alter behavior and culture, change the company–customer relationship, and carve out a path to global business success? Profiling dozens of today’s most innovative organizations, The Innovation Zone delivers a new playbook for creating a structured business model of innovation that focuses on process, not products, to generate sustainable value and competitive dominance.

Tamara Ghandour, author, podcaster, keynote speaker and founder of innovation training company, LaunchStreet, used to believe that innovation was the domain of a select few, exclusive to certain industries, or relegated to a specific job role. But, as Tamara discovered in her 25 years of work and research, everybody has the capacity to innovate. It’s a person’s unique innovation style, which can be assessed and channelled, that can transform inertia into innovation.

Drawing on eye-opening data from her proprietary Innovation Quotient Edge Assessment, Innovation is Everybody’s Business is for those looking for solutions to the daily pain of “how do I prove my worth,” a reality for many people whether they work in the C-Suite or on the front-lines. This book will resonate with those that recognize that being more innovative is their ticket to being indispensable. It is also for leaders under pressure to build a culture of innovation but don’t know how. As organizations face pressure to innovate, the accountability for making it happen falls on senior and mid-level leaders. They are told what to do, but not how to do it. This book will give them a tool to build a team of innovators who make an impact every day in big and small ways.

It’s cool. But so what? This is the billion-dollar question that leading companies such as Samsung, Starbucks and American Express ask Fahrenheit 212 to answer for them whenever they develop new technologies.

Many companies are good at acquiring new product prototypes but bad at working out what they would do when they arrived at the front door. Many just give up, lacking the ‘How’ to go with the ‘Wow’. Using a unique two-sided approach to innovation involving both the Money and the Magic and in the process turning traditional orthodoxies about brainstorming on their head, Mark Payne reveals how to explore every potential idea with the end goal in mind-bringing an innovative product to market in a way that will transform a company’s business and growth.

Business Beyond the Box makes note of the self-imposed limitations each of us places on ourselves unconsciously. With a focus on applying new mindsets and achieving breakthrough results, O’Keeffe suggests working with–rather than within–boundaries. Applicable to both individuals and organizations, Business Beyond the Box will improve readers’ ability to innovate.

Complexity has met its match!

Today, every leader and organisation grapples with unprecedented complexity. Some thrive in these situations while the vast majority do not.

Now updated for a post-Covid world, David Benjamin and David Komlos share their cutting-edge, highly-engaging step-by-step formula for rapidly cracking incredibly knotty and important challenges, by involving and mobilizing all the right people-no matter where they are-to co-create solutions.

Filled with compelling stories and advice distilled from years of experience applying the Complexity Formula across a broad range of sectors, Benjamin and Komlos have delivered the defining handbook for current and future leaders.
Fully updated to include highly successful and proven virtual methods and practices that have been used to solve real problems. This book serves up the mindset, steps and skills that you and your team will need to crack complexity, wherever you are in the world, so that you can find clarity and build momentum even in the most uncertain of times.

‘This book is a gift to everyone with a desire to enter a world where extraordinary things
happen’ Sir Tim Smit, Co-Founder, The Eden Project

‘This inspired and inspiring book can be a crystal ball to help you see into your own creative future’ Daniel H. Pink, author of DRIVE and TO SELL IS HUMAN

A PRACTICAL OVERVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY INNOVATION WITH SIMPLE, IMPLEMENTABLE STRATEGIES FOR THINKING MORE CREATIVELY

Compiled by Springwise, the global innovation discovery engine, Disrupt! explains and highlights the best, most disruptive and most useful innovation ideas of the 21st Century, and shows which themes underpin their success and which ideas can best be used to drive creativity in your workplace, office or industry.

Springwise has a huge online readership (700k page impressions a month, 31k FB followers, 62k Twitter followers and an email database of 160k names) and a reputation as the number one engine for collating and sharing cutting edge business ideas.

This attractively designed book draws on their vast archive and the expertise of their editorial team to create a practical, themed overview of contemporary innovation with simple, implementable strategies for bringing more creativity to your business or idea and more disruption to your industry. It is an indispensable handbook to modern innovation.

‘Almost too good to share!’ Seth Godin.

The New York Times Bestseller named one of the “Most Important Books of 2016” by Inc, and a Forbes 2016 “Must Read Business Book”

‘If you love ‘Bones’ and ‘CSI’, this book is your kind of candy’ Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy

‘Martin’s best book to date. A personal, intuitive, powerful way to look at making an impact with your work’ Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow

Martin Lindstrom, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in The World and a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, harnesses the power of “small data” in his quest to discover the next big thing.

In an era where many believe Big Data has rendered human perception and observation ‘old-school’ or passé, Martin Lindstrom shows that mining and matching technological data with up-close psychological insight creates the ultimate snapshot of who we really are and what we really want. He works like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, accumulating small clues – the progressively weaker handshakes of Millenials, a notable global decrease in the use of facial powder, a change in how younger consumers approach eating ice cream cones – to help solve a stunningly diverse array of challenges. In Switzerland, a stuffed teddy bear in a teenage girl’s bedroom helped revolutionise 1,000 stores – spread across twenty countries – for one of Europe’s largest fashion retailers. In Dubai, a distinctive bracelet strung with pearls helped Jenny Craig offset its declining membership in the United States and increase loyalty by 159% in only one year. In China, the look of a car dashboard led to the design of the iRobot, or Roomba, floor cleaner – a great success story.

SMALL DATA combines armchair travel with forensic psychology in an interlocking series of international clue-gathering detective stories. It shows Lindstrom using his proprietary CLUES Framework – where big data is merely one part of the overall puzzle – to get radically close to consumers and come up with the counter-intuitive insights that have in some cases helped transform entire industries.

SMALL DATA presents a rare behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create global brands, and reveals surprising and counter-intuitive truths about what connects us all as humans.

With AI upending work and life, the bestselling authors of Smart Brevity offer a one-stop survival guide to dramatically improving your life, work and happiness.

* Toxic complexity clogs our meetings, inboxes, calendars – even in our daily habits. We can do so much more, but first we need to do less.

* Simplify shows you how. It’s a step-by-step playbook for spending most of your time doing things that make you feel and perform better.

This urgent manual lets you take control of what is essential in a world where AI might simplify you out of a job. Maximize success by simplifying every aspect of your life. Ruthlessly distill what really matters to you, then clear the space to focus on what you do best.

* Simplify will help anyone thrive, from interns to CEOs.

The authors draw on lessons from founding two hot startups – Axios and Politico – and their years of experience advising Fortune 500 companies. Simplify is packed with advice from some of the world’s most successful people – your handbook for eliminating dreary distractions… so you can focus on what matters.

You want to build your own business.

A business that is profitable and works to propel progress in the world.

An impossible dream?

Not for Alexandre Mars. Part of a new generation of philanthropists, he is one of the world’s most respected entrepreneurs. After founding and selling a string of successful tech starts ups, today he runs a global mission-driven foundation. He works for profit and purpose.

Now you can achieve this too.

Packed with ideas, tips and practical examples, Mission Possible gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to become an entrepreneur with a purpose. This is your guide to create, launch and grow your own business. You will discover that it is possible to make money and have a bigger mission too.

Get to work and take your lead from insider interviews with many of the world’s changemaker entrepreneurs such as the founder of Pinterest and the Buddhist monk who created Headspace. Define your mission then work harder and smarter on it than anyone else.

Start a successful business and use it to become the true driver of change.

What if leaders stripped away all preconceptions about how business operates, allowing the organization to go back to its core and build itself back up to become something new – something so responsive, so innovative and resilient, it becomes virtually non-displaceable in the market? The Regenerative Business sets the stage for what is now only dreamt of by most of today’s forward-thinking leaders and paves the path to make it possible. The book features:

– Real stories from companies leading innovation and transformation across the globe including; Google, Colgate Europe, Seventh Generation, Nike and others

– A logical, comprehensive approach that factors in the complexities of the modern organization

– The work of internationally-recognized leadership expert Carol Sanford, who for decades has been designing and leading systemic business change

How to harness customer demand to fuel your business growth

Rob Snyder followed all the traditional advice for launching a startup. He did his research, ran experiments, raised millions in venture capital, but his company struggled to get off the ground. It wasn’t until he left the standard playbooks behind that he was able to quickly scale to millions of dollars in revenue. Now he’s a successful serial entrepreneur whose advice has helped hundreds of business owners get unstuck and start scaling.

In The Power of Pull, Snyder strips business down to one counterintuitive principle: Customer demand is all that matters. When business owners find real demand, they stop pushing their product onto an indifferent market, and instead customers pull the product out of their hands.

Demand first, everything else later

And demand isn’t ‘people who want our product’. Its’ what customers urgently want to accomplish in their own lives – right now. A promotion? Better health? Fulfilling relationships? When your solution fits that priority better than the alternatives, customers buy naturally. If it doesn’t, no amount of persuasion or advertising will create traction.

Including the practical PULL framework, showing how to identify genuine demand, and examples from companies like Basecamp, HubSpot and Tesla, this book gives founders a clear path to faster growth – without the guesswork.

Disruption by digital technologies? That’s not a new story. But what is new is the “wise pivot,” a replicable strategy for harnessing disruption to survive, grow, and be relevant to the future. It’s a strategy for perpetual reinvention across the old, now, and new elements of any business.

Rapid recent advances in technology are forcing leaders in every business to rethink long-held beliefs about how to adapt to emerging technologies and new markets. What has become abundantly clear: in the digital age, conventional wisdom about business transformation no longer works, if it ever did.

Based on Accenture’s own experience of reinventing itself in the face of disruption, the company’s real world client work, and a rigorous two-year study of thousands of businesses across 30 industries, Pivot to the Future reveals methodical and bold moves for finding and releasing new sources of trapped value-unlocked by bridging the gap between what is technologically possible and how technologies are being used. The freed value enables companies to simultaneously reinvent their legacy, and current and new businesses.

Pivot to the Future is for leaders who seek to turn the existential threats of today and tomorrow into sustainable growth, with the courage to understand that a wise pivot strategy is not a one-time event, but a commitment to a future of perpetual reinvention, where one pivot is followed by the next and the next.

What if leaders stripped away all preconceptions about how business operates, allowing the organization to go back to its core and build itself back up to become something new – something so responsive, so innovative and resilient, it becomes virtually non-displaceable in the market? The Regenerative Business sets the stage for what is now only dreamt of by most of today’s forward-thinking leaders and paves the path to make it possible. The book features:

– Real stories from companies leading innovation and transformation across the globe including; Google, Colgate Europe, Seventh Generation, Nike and others

– A logical, comprehensive approach that factors in the complexities of the modern organization

– The work of internationally-recognized leadership expert Carol Sanford, who for decades has been designing and leading systemic business change

Over a decade ago, renowned innovation expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-founded and then directed Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Her breakthrough work with hundreds of successful professionals and executives, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs, identifies the leadership paradigm of the future: the ability to “think outside the building” to overcome establishment paralysis and produce significant innovation for a better world.

Kanter provides extraordinary accounts of the successes and near-stumbles of purpose-driven men and women from diverse backgrounds united in their conviction that positive change is possible.

A former Trader Joe’s executive, for example, navigated across business, government, and community sectors to deal with poor nutrition in inner cities while reducing food waste. A concerned European banker used the power of persuasion, not position, to find novel financing for improving the health of the oceans. A Washington couple enticed global partners to join an Uber-like platform to match skilled refugees with talent-hungry companies. A visionary journalist-turned-entrepreneur closed social divides by giving fifty million social media users access to free local education and culture.

When traditional approaches are inadequate or resisted, advanced leadership skills are essential. In this book, Kanter shows how people everywhere can unleash their creativity and entrepreneurial adroitness to mobilize partners across challenging cultural, social, and political situations and innovate for a brighter future.

“Our Next Reality does a fantastic job of giving a balanced and insightful analysis to some of the most pressing questions our society will face in the near future. The material is data driven, digestible, and very actionable.” RAY KURZWEIL, Author/Entrepreneur/Futurist

“A wide-reaching exploration of the intersections between AI, VR and AR: it’s a mind-opener, and a source of reflection on how transformative and still unknown the future of communication, personal technology and even personal privacy might become.” SCOTT STEIN, Editor at Large, CNET

Over the last 100 years, technology has changed our world. Over the next decade it will transform our reality.

We are entering a new technological age in which artificial intelligence and immersive media will transform society at all levels, mediating our lives by altering what we see, hear, and experience. Powered by immersive eyewear and driven by interactive AI agents, this new age of computing has the potential to make our world a magical place where the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the human and the artificial, rapidly fade away. If managed well, this could unleash a new age of abundance. If managed poorly, this technological revolution could easily go astray, deeply compromising our privacy, autonomy, agency, and even our humanity.

In Our Next Reality, two industry veterans provide a data-driven debate on whether the new world we’re creating will be a technological utopia or an AI-powered dystopia and give guidance on how to aim for the best future we can. With a Foreword by renowned author Neal Stephenson and section contributions from industry thought-leaders such as Peter H. Diamandis, Tom Furness, Phillip Rosedale, Tony Parisi, Avi Bar Zeev and Walter Parkes, this book answers over a dozen of the most pressing questions we face as artificial intelligence and spatial computing accelerates the digitization of our world. Find out why our actions in the next decade could determine the trajectory of our species for countless millennia.

“For anyone who wants to use AI and XR to help build the future, read this book to help you skillfully navigate a future of unprecedented danger and promise.” JASON HINER, Editor in Chief, ZDNet

“Our Next Reality really is a must-read for anyone who wants to prepare for the massive AI and XR driven disruption coming our way.” CHARLIE FINK, Author | Adjunct | Forbes Tech Columnist

Great ideas are all around us, waiting to be discovered. Here’s how to find them.

We’re used to imagining creativity as a lightbulb moment – sudden, mysterious, reserved for the gifted few. But what if ideas aren’t conjured from thin air? What if they’re discovered – more like precious artifacts that we unearth and refine?

In How Great Ideas Happen, cognitive scientist George Newman draws on cutting-edge research to show that creativity isn’t magic, it’s method. The most successful innovators don’t wait to be struck by brilliance; their creative process is more like archeology. As keen-eyed explorers, they scan the terrain, dig with intention, and, with a little luck, find gold.

With vivid examples from the arts, science, and business, Newman shows how creativity often comes from discovering what was already there. For example, how Jackson Pollock tapped into deep patterns in nature to create his famous “drip” paintings; how Korean filmmakers created an entirely new genre by closely studying foreign films; or, how Paul Simon made Graceland by carefully sifting through previously recorded material for what he could take away.

By revealing the hidden steps behind breakthrough success, How Great Ideas Happen uncovers a repeatable method that anyone can follow, reframing creativity not as a rare gift, but as a universal capacity waiting to be unlocked through exploration. The creative process is an adventure of ideas – this book is your guide.

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS BESTSELLER**

Voted the EMBRACING CHANGE BOOK OF THE YEAR at the BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS

When the winds of change blow, some build a wall and others build a windmill

In a business environment where change is the only constant, the stark reality is that it has never been harder to see what’s happening around us, interpret information efficiently or develop successful strategies. This is down to both the increasing speed of change and the prevalent mindset about change, where change is seen as the enemy.

Powered by Change presents a radical new methodology for using change as a fuelling mechanism to generate outstanding business success: the Windmill Theory.

Power your business

The Windmill Theory enables leaders and organisations to think and act in a way that capitalises on a constantly changing environment. Constructed of four blades working in perpetual harmony with one another, it creates an empowered business that turns the winds of change into business success.

Filled with examples and stories from around the world, from global corporates to start-up ventures, Powered by Change delivers some astonishing insights and clear, actionable steps to achieve the ultimate competitive advantage.

Use this book to fuel your business for the future.

*SHORTLISTED FOR BEST LEADERSHIP BOOK AT THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS*

In today’s fast-paced world, leaders need to move at speed. The rate of innovation and change in organisations and the challenges of impatient investors or shareholders mean leadership decisions must be quick, smart and deliver real impact.

Superfast provides cutting edge inspiration and a host of exciting ideas about how to accelerate performance in an agile and thoughtful way, shedding new light on leading in a world which is fluid and uncertain. You’ll learn the practical solutions to leadership questions which the most savvy global leaders employ, and map your own shortcut to personal and professional success.

Leadership is not just about moving fast, however. Superfast will show you how to use your time in the smartest, most efficient way possible – slowing down when necessary to get decisions right and accelerating elsewhere to unlock growth.

Stop waiting around. Superfast will give you the tools to lead well and make change happen.

Featuring detailed profiles of the Chinese tech companies making waves, the tech sectors that matter most in China’s grab for super power status, and predictions for China’s tech dominance in just 10 years.

The rise of China’s tech companies and intense competition from the sector is just beginning. This will present an ongoing management and strategy challenge for companies for many years to come. Tech Titans of China is the go-to-guide for companies (and those interested in competition from China) seeking to understand China’s grand tech ambitions, who the players are and what their strategy is. Fannin, a leading expert on the Chinese tech sector, is an internationally-recognized journalist, author and speaker. Through her company, Silicon Dragon, Fannin hosts 12 live events annually for business leaders, venture capitalists, start-up founders, and others impacted by or interested in the Chinese tech industry.

“A powerful and valuable book to live a life of greater freedom and impact”,
Robin Sharma, #1 worldwide bestselling author of The 5AM Club and The Everyday Hero Manifesto

Reimagine your future, adjust your efforts, jump into action and work for just ten more years before doing what the hell you want!

Building a business can be confusing. Entrepreneurs aren’t sure whether to keep control or delegate and automate, say yes or say no, work all hours or prioritise work-life balance. They take advice from all directions and wind up feeling overwhelmed and overworked without a finish line in sight.

The TEN YEAR CAREER turns that premise upside down and argues that it doesn’t have to be that way. If you have intention, focus, a willingness to question received truths and the vision to think big, you can emulate the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and retire in ten years, no matter where you are in your career today.


You’ll learn:
– How to define success your way, not their way.
– How to achieve far more in a shorter space of time.
– How to run your business without it running you.
– The four-step framework by which to complete your Ten Year Career.

You can achieve much more than you do now, in much less time than you thought, to reach financial freedom earlier than you imagined. That freedom, in turn, leads to the freedom to choose how you spend your days. The freedom to do whatever you want, with whomever you want, when you want to do it. The freedom to live life on your own terms.

The difference between growing your business and going out of business is your ability to think strategically.

The problem is, most leaders are stuck in the operational weeds, struggling to find the time to make better strategic decisions. This challenge is only heightened by the rise of AI. While you know AI is the future, current demands leave you with no time to explore its benefits. Meanwhile, your competition is gaining an edge by integrating AI. The time to act is now.

In The AI-Driven Leader, you’ll learn how to:
· Escape operational overwhelm and lead with strategic clarity
· Collapse the time it takes to turn data into decisions
· Transform your decision-making with AI for strategic advantage
· 10x the impact of every employee
· Apply real-world examples and prompts to get immediate results

You know AI matters, but you’re not using it to transform how you think, make decisions, and lead. Your company can adopt AI now and see immediate returns. The AI-Driven Leader provides clear guidance on where to begin, helping you achieve rapid results. With this book, you’ll learn how to harness AI as your strategic Thought Partner, enabling you to grow your business, outpace the competition, and get more done in less time.

Since Peter Senge published The Fifth Discipline, he and his associates have frequently been asked by the business community: “How do we go beyond the first steps of corporate change? How do we sustain momentum?” They know that companies and organizations cannot thrive today without learning to adapt their attitudes and practices. But companies that establish change initiatives discover, after initial success, that even the most promising efforts to transform or revitalize organizations – despite interest, resources, and compelling business results – can fail to sustain themselves over time. That’s because organizations have complex, well-developed immune systems, aimed at preserving the status quo.

Now, drawing upon new theories about leadership and the long-term success of change initiatives, and based upon twenty-five years of experience building learning organizations, the authors of The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook show how to accelerate success and avoid the obstacles that can stall momentum. The Dance of Change, written for managers and executives at every level of an organization, reveals how business leaders can work together to anticipate the challenges that profound change will ultimately force the organization to face. Then, in a down-to-earth and compellingly clear format, readers will learn how to build the personal and organizational capabilities needed to meet those challenges.

Filled with individual and team exercises, in-depth accounts of sustaining learning initiatives by managers and leaders in the field, and well-tested practical advice, The Dance of Change provides an insider’s perspective on implementing learning and change initiatives at such corporations as British Petroleum, Chrysler, Dupont, Ford, General Electric, Harley-Davidson, Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Electric, Royal DutchShell, Shell Oil Company, Toyota, the United States Army, and Xerox. It offers crucial advice for line-level managers, executive leaders, internal networkers, educators, and others who are struggling to put change initiatives into practice.

Winner for Best Business (General) Book, International Best Book Awards.
Winner for Best Nonfiction (General) Book, Best Book Awards.
Silver Medal Winner in Business Ethics, Axiom Business Book Awards.
Silver Medal Winner in Business and Leadership, Nautilus Book Awards

‘Change and disruption define our present and foreseeable business operating climate. Changemaker Playbook offers readers a leadership-paradigm-shifting and thought-provoking way forward to achieving successful business engagement.’ Ertharin Cousin, former US Ambassador to the UN, Forbes’ The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, and TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World

‘A powerful new leadership framework and organizational model for working in teams of teams, to take care of business and solve society’s most urgent and pressing issues.’ Jostein Solheim, former CEO at Ben & Jerry’s and senior business executive at Unilever

The Game Has Changed!

What would you do if the game you had been preparing for your whole life had changed?

This is the question we all face today. Our one-leader-at-a-time past has given way to a present reality where everyone has the potential to lead in every aspect of life. We all have at our fingertips the tools of change that were once available to only a few. This shift from one-leader-at-a-time to everyone-leading-in-every-moment has created a changemaker effect on society. Change is no longer linear and faster, it’s explosive and omnidirectional-and we are the first generation to navigate this reordered reality.

Our iEverything world requires a new playbook.

THE CHANGEMAKER PLAYBOOK will show you how to thrive in every aspect of today’s transformed societal landscape. Based on the author’s discoveries about leading in change from some of the world’s leading changemakers – business and social entrepreneurs, educators, media thought leaders, and youth innovators – readers can apply the principles in this book to the new everyone-a-changemaker world. An unforgettable tutorial on the principles of empathy-based ethics, co-creative teamwork, and the ins and outs of the new game, CHANGEMAKER PLAYBOOK is as much a new leadership handbook as it is the definitive individual and organizational achievement playbook.

This is the new playbook for the new game.