Synopses & Reviews
The secrets of successful idea practitioners change management. Reengineering. Knowledge management. Major new management ideas are thrown at today's companies with increasing frequency - and each comes with evangelizing gurus and eager-to-assist implementation consultants. Only a handful of these ideas will be a good fit for your organization. Choose the right idea at the right time and your company can become more efficient, more effective, and more innovative. Choose the wrong one - or jump on the right bandwagon too late - and your company could fall hopelessly behind. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak say that some managers have found ways to improve their odds of success in the risky but essential game of idea management. In "What's the Big Idea?, they introduce a largely unsung class of managers they call - idea practitioners - individuals who do the real work of importing and implementing new ideas into businesses.While gurus reap most of the credit when big ideas take flight, Davenport and Prusak's research reveals that idea practitioners actually play the most important role: they turn the right ideas into action. Drawing from decades of consulting, academic, and business experience and from their novel study of more than 100 of these critical change leaders, "What's the Big Idea?" offers tools and frameworks for: assessing the merits of the top business gurus; scanning and tracking emerging ideas in the marketplace; distinguishing promising ideas from rhetoric; refining ideas to suit your organization's particular needs; packaging and selling the idea internally; and ensuring successful implementation.Davenport and Prusak prove that there are no faddish management ideas - only faddish ways of adopting them. Encouraging managers to embrace the power of ideas while avoiding the hype that often accompanies them, this pragmatic guide shows how passion and reason combine to build innovative companies.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-230) and index.
Synopsis
TODAY'S ORGANIZATIONS FACE AN onslaught of new management ideas from the fast-growing "business advice industry." Managers must determine whether to aggressively adopt an idea and risk fad-surfing, or to sit on the sidelines too long and risk stagnation. In What's the Big Idea? Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak argue that new business ideas can both improve organizational performance and bolster a company's image as an innovative leader. The key is choosing the right ideas to implement--at the right time for a specific organization. Drawing from decades of consulting, academic, and business experience and from their novel study of more than 100 "idea practioners"--individuals who introduce and champion new ideas within organizations--Davenport and Prusak provide practical tools and frameworks for understanding where new ideas come from, evaluating which ideas are worth pursuing, customizing ideas to suit an organization's unique needs, and more. Encouraging managers to embrace the power of ideas while avoiding the hype that often accompanies them, this book is a pragmatic guide to the art and practice of new management ideas.
About the Author
Thomas H. Davenport is the Presidents Distinguished Chair at Babson College and a research fellow at the MIT Center for Digital Business.
Laurence Prusak is the Director of IBM's Institute for Knowledge Management.
Jim Wilson is an associate of the Institute for Strategic Change.
Table of Contents
Winning with ideas : how business ideas are linked to business success -- The idea practitioners : who introduces ideas to organizations? -- Ideas at work : it's the content that counts -- The guide to gurus : where good management ideas come from -- Market savvy : how ideas interact with markets -- Will it fit? : find ideas that fit your organization--then sell them -- The reengineering tsunami : a case story of an idea that became a tidal wave -- Knowledge management : case story of "P-Cycle" movement -- Idea-based leadership : how can your organization lead with ideas -- A select survey of business and management ideas.