Customer Reviews

The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whether it was waiting to catch a plane in a New York airport or sun tanning on a veranda in British Columbia, Tom Kelleys Ten Faces of Innovation was difficult to put down.

The book follows the typical business/management piece (a big idea captured in the 1st three paragraphs of a chapter with the rest of the chapters detailing success stories) but it does succeed in adding a much needed and refreshing vocabulary and introduces roles which have the potential to spark new conversations that encourage innovation (as apposed to the language and role of devils advocate which Kelley says chokes and kills innovation).

Kelley introduces new roles (or at least affirms old roles) that may have been previously viewed as extras - but not integral - to an organization.

In Ten Faces of Innovation we are introduced to

The Anthropologist

Short form: social recon agents.

Individuals who have a knowledge and love for subjects like cognitive psychology, linguistics, or anthropology, and have a sense of informed intuition (a la Blink) to get to the heart of human matters.

The Experimenter

Individuals who make ideas tangible-dashing off sketches, cobbling together creations of duct tape and foam core, shooting quick videos to give personality and shape to a new concept. Experimenters have a passion for hard work, curious mind, and an openness to serendipity.

The Cross-Pollinator

T-Shaped individuals who have a broad knowledge in different fields but are deep in at least one field and are able to cross-pollinate ideas from fields.

The Collaborator

That rare person who truly values the team over the individual, the project accomplishments beyond individual achievements. The person willing to set their own work aside temporarily to help you make a tight deadline. The person you can count on to jump in when and where they are needed most

The Hurdler, The Director, The Experience Architect, The Set Designer, The Caregiver and The Storyteller.

Kelley pushes the simple idea that the element of innovation should be viewed as one of these personas rather then tools, because then we will view innovation as a full-time endeavor and not just a task to be checked off periodically, or called upon to give a project/system/department a face lift.

Will his vocabulary catch on in the same manor that Gladwells Tipping Point or Clayton Chistensens Disruptive technologies have? Only time will tell.

The color pages made it an attractive book (and helped heal the wound after investing the 42.00 Canadian to purchase it) but the glossy pages made it extremely hard to mark and highlight-but no biggie.

I finished this book last night late and my mind continued to think about the things that I had read. As the CEO of a small but growing lifestyle store this book helped me put some structure to the reason why I have been hiring certain people. Our newest staff member after working a couple of months, said to me, 'this group of people is the most diverse collection of people that I have ever worked with. I love working here because we all think so differently'

Tom Kelley's book encourgages us all to look for a variety of people in our organizations. People who will look at things from all different perspectives, and who attack challenges using different tactics.

The book is filled with interesting stories and compelling examples that inspire and teach. I would highly recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position.