With the plethora of books coming out on innovation, Braden Kelley's "Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire" is one you must get, read, mark up, and share. It is easy for anyone, from layman to expert, to read and understand, adopt and adapt.
Braden provides readers with a toobox for innovation. The book provides practical, usable, adaptable tools for creating a (more) innovative culture in your own organization, regardless of size, shape and scope. There are guides, checklists, and real world examples from many industries. The approach is holistic, detailing the changes innovation makes to and for your customers, employees, suppliers, distribution system, marketing, sales and operations. Not many books provide such a thorough value-chain analysis.
But more than that, Braden addresses the harder issues around innovation - the `soft' stuff. Very few books give the time and attention to the people and culture issues which are the hardest and most critical to success. The book has several sections about culture - how to get people engaged and stay engaged, how important trust is, how innovation is a social activity and even how your policies and procedures need to change to encourage innovation, with concrete examples instead of theory.
If you're interested in really making innovation an integral part of your organization, then "Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire" is a must have that you will use over and over again and will remain a constant source of reference.
