Leadership for Innovation: How to Organize Team Creativity and Harvest Ideas

by John Adair

Book Overview

New ideas and new ways of doing things are one of the main ingredients in sustained business success, but how do you create the right conditions for innovation?

Leadership for Innovation will help you to create an innovative climate that encourages the development of new products and services. Drawing upon real-life examples including Google, Honda and 3M, John Adair sets out practical ways for bringing about change in organizations...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0749454792
• ISBN13: 9780749454791
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Innovative leaders induce creativity

A companion to "Leadership and Motivation: The Fifty-Fifty Rule and the Eight Key Principles of Motivating Other", another book by the same author, "Leadership for Innovation: How to Organize Team Creativity and Harvest Ideas" is beautifully executed. Specifically, it deals with innovations and how leadership affects the innovation process. It defines an innovation as "turning ideas into useful, practicable and commercial products and services" (p.13). Having done that, and done it well, I would add, the book turns to the six factors that determine successful innovation: (a) firm commitment, (b) positive thinking, (c) long-range perspective, (d) appropriate response to change, (e) ability and willingness to take risk, and (f) a supportive environment. That is all in the first two chapters. Nice!! Chapter 3 concentrates on building creative teams. The keys there are freedom, clear communication of ideas, right balance between creativity and productivity, and innovative leadership. The discussion is backed up by two case studies: one about an organizational environment that fosters innovations (DNA Lab), and the other about an innovative leader (Soichino Honda). An important conclusion from these examples is that innovations require a firm commitment from top management, and Chapter 7 describes how to motivate creative people. The book does a superb job of outlining the characteristics of creative individuals (pp. 74-75), and what creative people expect from the organizations they work with/for: (i) recognition and appreciation, (ii) freedom to align their work with their interests, (iii) encouragement to take risks, (iv) contact with stimulating colleagues, and above all else (v) creative leadership to inspire them. And who are creative leaders? They are leaders who: take risks; accept new ideas; are not afraid to bend, perhaps even break, conventional rules; respond quickly to change; and are personally enthusiastic about their own work and the work of their followers. The last three chapters of the book deal with team creativity, sources of ideas, and learning to accept change. There are five principles to overcoming obstacles to change (pp. 116-124). At the bottom of it all is the notation that change is generally easy to accept if and when it is life-affirming. The sources of ideas are similarly commonsensical: suggestions from other people, quality controls, education and training, and creative teams. Teams are creative if they: build on existing ideas rather than trying to reinvent the wheel; brainstorm regularly; and are active, organized, and critically constructive. Anyone would enjoy this book - more than two thumps up - way more! Amavilah, Author Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies ISBN: 1600210465

Simply put, "Leadership For Innovation" should be considered mandatory reading for anyone charged wi

In "Leadership For Innovation: How To Organize Team Creativity And Harvest Ideas", author John Adair draws upon his many years of experience and expertise advising business, governmental, education, health, and volunteer organizations throughout the world to present an superbly organized, informed and informative instruction manual for dealing with the contemporary challenges all modern businesses face that requiring them to either innovate or face stagnation, the adapt to the changes brought on by a fiercely competitive, highly volatile, and continually evolving marketplace be it local, regional, national, or international in scope. Adair examines the links between leadership, creativity and changing using his distinctive style to explore every aspect of developing and implementing business leadership and team-driven profitable growth. Simply put, "Leadership For Innovation" should be considered mandatory reading for anyone charged with the responsibility for their business to be competitively profitable regardless of its product or service.