The Innovators Path: How Individuals, Teams, and Organizations Can Make Innovation Business–as–Usual

Praise for The Innovator′s Path

"What Madge Meyer has done in her book is use a simple, commonsense approach to following through with the good idea that all too often dies a premature death. Focusing on eight disciplines, she carefully describes a set of critical skills for turning a good idea into reality and, many times, into competitive advantage."
From the Foreword by Ron Logue former chairman and CEO, State Street Corporation

"Madge Meyer is truly a force of nature. Need a solution to a problem? She invariably has both the genuine desire to find a solution and a lot of great ideas. Her eight disciplines provide incredible insights into how a truly committed problem–solver addresses innovative technological solutions by jumping in with both feet and a very focused mind. This is a great book on a topic of major importance for both corporate and non–profit organizations in this ever more competitive world."
Cathy E. Minehan, Dean, Simmons School of Management; former president and CEO, The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

"The Innovator′s Path introduces eight disciplines that anyone who wants to create a successful innovation strategy should follow. Each discipline contains three levels of effectiveness that can be used to assess current versus desired performance. Workplace–proven techniques are provided to help you adopt the disciplines and incorporate them within your teams. Madge also shares her own experiences using those techniques, as well as personal case studies illustrating them at work. This is a must–read for anyone who is committed to creating, encouraging, and sustaining innovative change within their own organization."
Gerald Chertavian, CEO and founder, Year Up

"If you are interested in innovation, especially in the corporate world, this is the book for you. Madge shares her many years of experience as a change agent and provides a foundation for aspiring innovators via her eight disciplines: listen, lead, position, promote, connect, commit, execute, and evolve. These are essential competencies for harnessing the potential creativity and commitment around us. Once we understand and exercise her eight disciplines, we can create better business value and increase our competitive advantage."
Tarkan Maner, previous CEO, Wyse Technology; serial entrepreneur and investor

"In my opinion, the global competitive landscape for nations and companies is being defined by the capability and ability to innovate. While I have seen definitions of invention as the process of turning money into ideas and innovation as the process of turning ideas into money, I have never seen anyone define the pathway to innovation as crisply (and as imaginatively structured) as presented in this book. Madge Meyer has offered all of us a ′game changer′ with her ideas and model. And as such, this book is required reading for anyone in the ′game′ of competition."
Dr. Howard Rubin, founder, Rubin Systems Inc.; Professor Emeritus, City University of New York

Foreword xi

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xxi

Author s Note xxiii

Introduction Innovation and the Eight Disciplines 1

Defining Innovation 2

Making Innovation Business–as–Usual 2

Different Contexts 5

The Eight Disciplines 8

Chapter 1 Listen 13

Patience, Humility, Respect 15

Listen: Levels of Eff ectiveness 17

Preparing Ourselves to Listen 18

How I Go about Listening 19

Listening to the Facts 21

Listening to What Is Not Being Said 24

Listen Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 29

Chapter 2 Lead 33

Leadership Essentials 36

Leading with Passion 37

Leading with Vision 38

Respect, Trust, and Integrity 41

The Soft Skills of Leadership 43

Sound Judgment 46

Creating a Culture of Innovation 47

Lead: Levels of Effectiveness 54

Lead Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 55

Chapter 3 Position 57

A Roadmap for Change 57

Positioning Our Sights 60

Developing Our Roadmap 65

Positioning for Change 68

Position: Levels of Effectiveness 70

Personal Positioning 71

Position Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 72

Chapter 4 Promote 75

Branding 77

The Importance of Establishing a Baseline for Innovation 78

Promoting Our Innovation Ideas 79

Opportunities to Promote 88

Promote: Levels of Eff ectiveness 90

Promoting State Street s Environmental Sustainability and Green Programs 91

Promote Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 94

Chapter 5 Connect 97

Connect: Levels of Effectiveness 107

The Connect Culture 108

Connect and Cooperate 110

Connecting Strategy, Processes, and Systems 112

Ways to Connect 114

Connecting with My Team 115

MIT Collaborative Initiatives and the Albright Challenge 117

Connect Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 120

Chapter 6 Commit 123

Culture and Commitment 124

Innovation Management in the Safety Zone 128

The IBM Way 129

Funding as Commitment 130

Personal and Team Commitment 135

Timing and Commitment 139

Commit: Levels of Eff ectiveness 140

Commit Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 141

Chapter 7 Execute 143

Meeting the Highest Standard for Our Astronauts 144

Flawless Execution 145

Rapid Value Delivery 148

Putting the Pieces Together 153

Execute: Levels of Eff ectiveness 154

Server Certifi cation Process 155

Execute Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 157

Chapter 8 Evolve 159

Overcoming Success 160

Going Further Beyond 164

Continual Innovation, Not Constant Change 166

Clearing the Path 169

Adversity and Change 172

Evolve: Levels of Eff ectiveness 176

Evolving from Certifi cation to Cloud 177

Evolve Concrete Steps for Putting This Discipline into Action 178

Afterword 181

Appendix I The Eight Disciplines Summaries and Action Plans 183

Listen 183

Lead 186

Position 189

Promote 192

Connect 195

Commit 198

Execute 200

Evolve 203

Appendix II Biographies of Individuals Interviewed for This Book 207

Tenley E. Albright, MD 207

Deborah Ancona 208

Eugene Y. Chan, MD 209

Gerald Chertavian 210

Dean Kamen 210

Tarkan Maner 211

Tom Mendoza 212

Admiral Michael Mullen 212

Nathan Myhrvold 213

Samuel J. Palmisano 214

James S. Phalen 215

Linda S. Sanford 216

John Swainson 216

John Thompson 217

Ming Tsai 218

About the Author 221

Index 223

MADGE M. MEYER is a public speaker, author, and founder of Madge Meyer Consulting, LLC. She has received twelve personal awards for her industry and community achievements. Formerly Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer & Technology Fellow at State Street Corporation, she oversaw the company′s global Information Technology infrastructure teams, which earned thirty–two innovation and excellence awards under her leadership. Meyer also held executive positions at Merrill Lynch and IBM and serves on several boards in industry, academia, and nonprofit institutions.