Agile Innovation: The Revolutionary Approach to Accelerate Success, Inspire Engagement, and Ignite Creativity

PRAISE FOR AGILE INNOVATION ™ “Finally, a comprehensive book has been written to narrow the gap for companies seeking to make innovation a core driver. Today’s corporate leaders must build a culture of Agile Innovation , and this outstanding book is the perfect manual for business today.” —Harry W. Kellogg, Vice Chairman, Silicon Valley Bank “ Agile Innovation promises to profoundly transform businesses and institutions. By bridging the worlds of Agile and traditional innovation, the authors enable the transformation of self–organizing toward self–optimizing teams, and offer a map for the journey to the self–actualizing organization. This book is a strategic imperative for anybody aiming for success in a brutally competitive, digitally accelerated business world.” —Errol Arkilic, CEO, M34 Capital and co–creator of the Innovation Corps “This book is a must–read for practitioners of innovation.” —Annie Donovan, CEO, CoMetrics “The old methods of innovation are slow and rarely involve those who matter most: front–line workers. This book absolutely changes the game and it will change the way you innovate. Don’t delay. Read it now!” —Stephen Shapiro, author of the bestselling Best Practices Are Stupid and 24/7 Innovation , and former Director of Accenture’s Global Process Excellence Practice “ Agile Innovation is a must–read for anyone interested in what will become one of the major stories of the next few decades. No one is better placed than this team to provide key insights about the blend of agility and innovation.” —Tan Yinglan, author of Chinnovation and Partner, Sequoia Capital “This book is an outstanding addition to the ‘bible of best practices.’ It is certainly a unique treatise on successful, high–impact innovation in the explosive new global digital age. Universities around the globe should be offering courses centered on this book’s valuable content.” —Dr. Dixon R. Doll, General Partner, DCM Venture Capital, and Former Chairman of US National Venture Capital Association “If you are going to read only one book on innovation this year, make it this one.” —Pascal Baudry, Founder, WDHB Consulting Group “This thought–provoking and inspirational book is a must–read for anyone seeking to master the art and science of innovation. Simply put, it’s a map that will lead you and your organization to exponential breakthrough success in the new Digital Gold Rush.” —Jack Canfield, bestselling coauthor of The Power of Focus and The Success Principles

About this Book Mastery of Innovation Why Don’t Large Firms Innovate? Part 1: The Innovation Revolution 1. Starting at Sprint Zero:  A Better Way to Innovate Wait, Is There … Resistance to Change? The Secret Sauce of Innovation Be Your Own Revolution 2. Becoming Agile Rapidly and Painlessly Individuals and Interactions Adapt or Die The Challenge 3. Transforming How We Work Innovating Is Learning Transforming Ideation From Insight to Disruption The World is Changed Transforming Execution:  From Assumptions to Evidence Transforming Time:  From Meetings to Productivity Transforming Organizations Summary:  Eight Organizational Principles 4. Thriving in Change Defining the Innovation Process Change and Mindset A Framework for Transformation The Innovation Master Plan Part 2: Managing Innovation for Tomorrow 5. Accelerating Success The Need for Speed The Scrum and the Sprint The Agile Software Sprint Innovation and Extreme Sports at Wells Fargo Uncertainty The Agile Innovation Idea Scrum Social Workflow The Research Cycle The Research Cycle:  Needfinding, Modeling, Ideation, and Prototyping Proactive Innovation The Customer Value Proposition The Agile Innovation Process Facilitating the Workflow Spontaneous Innovation Gathering Feedback 6. Reducing Innovation Risk A System for Innovation Strategy for Agile Innovation Four Types of Innovation Innovation Portfolio Design Portfolio Success Factors Measure to Manage Broader Innovation Portfolio Metrics Automating Portfolio Management Redux: The Pivotable Portfolio Summary 7. Engaging with Collaborative Teams Transcending Limitations What Is Innovation? People Are the Core The Key Elements of the Innovation Culture The Right People The Right Skills The Right Roles in the Innovation Culture Creative Genius Agile Innovation Champions Agile Innovation Leaders Promoting Comprehensive Transformation at Wells Fargo Summary:  Innovation Culture Metrics 8. Building Agile Innovation as a Core Competence Facilitating and Managing Collaboration Removing Roadblocks Orchestrating Team Rhythm Innovation is a Team Sport Summary:  Courage Is a Core Competence Part 3: Leading the Revolution: From Plans to Action Innovate As If Your Life Depends on It 9. Developing Agile Leadership How Apollo 13 Was Able to Return to Earth Is Failure an Option? Leadership and Uncertainty Don’t Settle The Self–Actualized Innovator Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Self–Actualizing Organizations Metavalues Action Steps:  It’s All About Leadership What Is Your Passion? 10. Cultivating Core Creativity Seeing More Deeply Multi–Visioning Great Stories Practice From Fear to Flow 11. Achieving an Iconic Brand Branding and Totems Overcoming Brand Blind Spots:  A Case Study Brands and Archetypes Storytelling The Business Panorama Creating Your Icon 12. Optimizing your Infrastructure Four Elements of Infrastructure Exploration and Production Dealing with Uncertainty The Virtual Infrastructure The Virtual Workplace Engagement in a Shared Mental Space Facilitating Innovation The Physical Work Place for Innovation Summary 13. Advancing Open Innovation Engaging Smart People in Your Innovation Effort Agile + Open = Ecosystem Innovation Openness in Business Ecosystems Technology–Enabled Openness IdeaXML The Next Generation Toolset The Promise of Intelligent Openness 14. Traveling the Road to Revolution Ten (Easy) Steps The Revolutionary Leader:  What Kind of Revolutionary are YOU? The Power of Commitment Conclusion: Using Agile Strategy  to Shape Your Organization’s Future Acceleration Agile Strategy:  The Evolution of Innovation Three Eras of Innovation Tools Agile Strategy and the Acceleration of History The Approaching Singularity The Agile Economy Our Conclusion:  Innovation Is Not Imitation Agile Capitalism Appendix A: Critical Questions Personal questions Innovation as a process Corporate culture/management Competition Intellectual Property Customers Appendix B:  Resources for Your Revolution Appendix B: Definitions

LANGDON MORRIS is Senior Partner of InnovationLabs, recognized as one of the leading innovation consulting firms worldwide. He is also a Senior Editor of The International Journal of Innovation Science and a Board Member of the International Association of Innovation Professionals. MOSES MA is a Technology Innovator and Partner at NextGEN Ventures, an advanced technology venture incubator working on leading edge cloud, mobile, and web technologies. Praised by Time magazine and the New York Times , he also writes an acclaimed blog on the psychology of innovation. PO CHI WU is Vice Chairman of Invotech Hong Kong, a catalyst for change, and Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, where he teaches innovation and entrepreneurship to new generations of Asian business leaders.