Synopses & Reviews
Praise for Grabbing Lightning
"Starting and growing radically new businesses inside the firm is something all large companies struggle withnobody has completely broken the code. But through active observation and study of a range of firms, including IBM, over a multiyear period, this team has surfaced and codified important insights that help pave the way. While there is not one standard solution, there are valuable lessons presented that ease the pain when 'grabbing lightning.'"
Mike Giersch, vice president of strategic planning, IBM Corporation
"Innovation that brings resultsthat's what we all want! Building on their work with many leading companies, the authors bring great insights to innovation. While there is no easy formula for success, many elements are explored. Their view is systemic and recognizes the various stages of innovation and new business creation. This book is brimming with ideas and concepts helpful to all of us who take on this exciting challenge of harnessing the creative to deliver breakthrough results."
Angela Biever, vice president, Intel Capital; managing director, Consumer Internet Sector, Intel Corporation
"Everybody wants innovation to be part of their culture. Grabbing Lightning offers a practical path to spark and then institutionalize innovation."
Beth Eckenrode, vice president, AST Business Development and Licensing, Nova Chemicals
"The authors provide a compelling account of how leading companies organize for better innovation results. Every company committed to improving its innovation performance would do well to study this book carefully."
Henry Chesbrough, author, Open Innovation and Open Business Models; adjunct professor, University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business
"In Grabbing Lightning, the authors have articulated a clear blueprint for building and sustaining rigorous innovation capability within an existing company. This articulation is particularly credible because it is based on extensive study of innovation companies."
Mark Newhouse, senior vice president and director, new business development, Corning Inc.
Review
Voted "Best Book of 2008" in Innovation, Strategy + Business
Synopsis
Innovation is becoming its own discipline, its own function in companies today. Established companies are clamoring for breakthrough innovation, but are typically held back by the highly reliable, repeatable processes of their management systems. But to remain competitive, medium and large companies must create an innovation function--what the authors call a Breakthrough Innovation Capability--that will enable breakthroughs over and over.
This book outlines a model for Breakthrough Innovation Capability based on the authors 4 year research project of 12 companies: 3M, Air Products, Albany International, Corning, Dupont, GE, IBM, J&J Consumer, Kodak, MeadWestvaco, Sealed Air, and Shell Chemicals.
Synopsis
Grabbing Lightning
To stay competitive in today's global marketplace, companies need to learn how to harness and sustain innovation rather than relying on the unexpected.
Established companies are clamoring for breakthrough innovation, but are often hamstrung by the highly reliable, repeatable processes of their management systems. Based on years of research, Grabbing Lightning shows how twelve companies have tried to develop a capability for sustainable breakthrough innovation and outlines best practices for your organization.
The authors show how the management system for innovation is different from the traditional one in that it allowsand even encouragesmistakes and failures in order to promote learning. Grabbing Lightning outlines the three building blocks of breakthrough innovation and shows what it takes to become an organization that values the breakthrough innovation management system. In Grabbing Lightning, the authors:
Explore the discovery competency and show how it differs from R&D
Examine the incubation competency and reveal how incubation can greatly enhance an organization's options for new business creation
Focus on the acceleration competency and address the activities it involves and approaches companies are taking toward it
The book also explores the challenges organizations can expect to face once a breakthrough innovation capability is initiated and offers advice for establishing innovation as a sustainable business function in organizations. Grabbing Lightning is a hands-on resource for all established organizations who want to make breakthrough innovation the norm rather than the exception.
Synopsis
Established companies are clamoring for breakthrough innovation, but are often hamstrung by the highly reliable, repeatable processes of their management systems. Based on years of research,
Grabbing Lightning shows how twelve companies have tried to develop a capability for sustainable breakthrough innovation and outlines best practices for your organization.
The authors show how the management system for innovation is different from the traditional one in that it allows?and even encourages?mistakes and failures in order to promote learning. Grabbing Lightning outlines the three building blocks of breakthrough innovation (BI) and shows what it takes to become an organization that values the BI management system.
About the Author
Gina C. O'Connor is associate professor of marketing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's (RPI) Lally School of Management and Technology. She currently serves as the director of the executive M.B.A. program and is also the academic director of the Radical Innovation Research Program.
Richard Leifer is an emeritus professor at the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Albert S. Paulson is Gilbreth Chaired Professor in the Technologies of Management at RPI and?chief investment officer at Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments.
Lois S. Peters is associate professor, past-director of the Ph.D. program, and current director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy at Lally School of Management and Technology at RPI.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Introduction.
1. Management Systems for Innovation.
2. Assessing Your Organization's Capacity for Breakthrough Innovation.
3. The Discovery Competency.
4. Incubation: The Long and Winding Road.
5. Acceleration: Gathering Steam and Building Critical Mass.
6. The DNA Innovation System.
7. Incorporating the DNA: The Role of the Orchestrator.
8. Getting Started: Initiating and Maturing an Innovation Management System.
9. The Innovation Function.
Appendix A: Companies Participating in the Breakthrough Innovation Research Study.
Appendix B: Assessing Your Firm's Breakthrough Innovation Competency.
Notes.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
Index.