The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World [Hardcover]

I especially appreciate his dry but delightful wit, perhaps most evident in the final chapter whose head note is a quotation from Thelonious Monk: "You know what's the loudest noise in the world, man? The loudest noise in the world is silence." Without apparent effort, he invites his reader to consider the significance of the Galton-Gould evolutionary pool table, a metaphor which suggests that a market is the polyhedron-shaped ball." perhaps recalling John Nash's insight, he suggests that when innovation arrives on the scene (i.e. in a market), it creates disequilibrium. "It is in this situation of rest [i.e. when the "ball" has stopped] which may be viewed as gridlock by some and as a stable market by others -- that innovations in a connect must pry apart."

Given the process of inquiry and exploration which has been completed in the prior chapters, I was intrigued by how Chakravorti achieves at least a temporary synthesis of so many different (sometimes contradictory) factors which interact throughout the innovation cycle: "the eureka moment; the development of technology to give life to an idea; and the creation of an organization to produce and commercialize the innovation." As we all know, few innovative ideas ever reach their intended market and fewer yet survive thereafter. There is indeed a natural selection process during any campaign to bring an innovation into the connected world. Chakravorti suggests four aspects of that campaign:

1. "Qualifying the endgame and, in the process, choosing between several strategic options at the outset;

2. "Orchestrating the changes necessary across the network of players through a mechanism that propagates the innovator's selective interventions into the wider network;

3. "Actively managing with the critical agents that will pass on the innovation's influence; and

4. "Making appropriate choices on how to commit to strategies that lead to certain endgames in the face of uncertainty -- depending on the situation, one must choose between making a bet, reserving options, and seeking insurance."

Paraphrasing an ancient aphorism, Chakravorti suggests that market imperfection is the mother of innovation because it creates the need to innovate both in terms of a given product or service and in terms of the campaign by which to guide it to market. and then through natural selection to at least temporary security....that is, until another innovation (which accommodates the aforementioned four aspects) eliminates the need for it.

I agree completely with Chakravorti that the "slow pace of change is good news for the strategic innovator. In fact, it is essential news." Obviously, when any organization plans to take a new product or service to market, it faces formidable competition and all manner of challenges, only some of which are posed by competitors. (How many innovative products or services have never survived internal barriers which may include what Jim O'Toole has characterized as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom") In this brilliant book, Chakravorti suggests a number of specific strategies and tactics to help achieve market penetration and eventual success in a connected world. There is also an important lesson to be learned from one of Aesop's fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare": At least in some situations, only a "slow pace" can achieve "fast change."

This book looks at the market as a network of players with dependencies and in equilibrium. Some entities in this network act as nodes and are the main players. Networks prefer equilibrium and it requires a good understanding of what it takes to shift this equilibrium to a new state. This is where the concept of game theory is extensively used and demonstrated through excellent case studies - Communications, Automobile Industry Supply Chains and Software are some examples. "Think Equilibrium" is the key message.

The best part of the book is that it simplifies complexity of theoretical aspects and delivers important concepts and a framework for application by managers. The other book that I enjoyed equally on the topic of game theory in business is "Co-opetition" by Barry Nalebuff and Adam Brandenburger. "How Breakthroughs happen" by Andrew Hargadon and "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen will be excellent supplements if we need to trace the complete trajectory of innovation from the lab to the customer's lap.

This book is a classic. If game theory owes a lot to "A Beautiful Mind", successful innovations in future will thank this beautiful book.