The Innovator's Field Guide

A step-by-step guide to successfully transforming any organization

It is well recognized that succeeding at innovation is fundamental in today's hyper-competitive global marketplace. It is the only way to outperform current and emerging competitors sustainably. But what we call “innovation” is messy and difficult and too often lacks the rigor and discipline of other management processes. The Innovator's Field Guide: Market Tested Methods and Frameworks to Help You Meet Your Innovation Challenges changes that. It is a practical guide that moves beyond the “why” to the “how” of making innovation happen, for leaders and practitioners inside organizations of all sizes.

Written by two pioneers in the field of embedding innovation in organization, The Innovator's Field Guide focuses on the most pressing innovation problems and specific challenges innovation leaders will face and offers concrete solutions, tools, and methods to overcome them.

• Each chapter describes a specific innovation challenge and details proven ways to address that challenge
• Includes practical ideas, techniques, and leading practices
• Describes common obstacles and offers practical solutions

Any leader or professional who needs concrete solutions—right now—to the critical challenges of innovation will find invaluable aid in the practical, easy-to-understand, and market-tested approaches of The Innovator's Field Guide.

1 Setting Context 1

About This Field Guide 1

The Innovation Challenges 3

Principles of Innovation 7

As You Read The Guide 11

2 Raising Your Innovation IQ Through Insight-Driven Innovation 13

What Is a “Great Insight”? 14

Five Insight Types 16

Key Take-Aways 52

3 Enabling Breakthrough Innovation 53

Bringing Strategic Focus to Your Efforts: Innovation Architecture 69

Key Take-Aways 72

4 From Nascent Idea to Business Concept 73

Changing Your Mind-Set About the Innovation Process 74

The SEI Approach 76

Using an Iterative Learning Process 87

Don’t Take Opportunity Elaboration and Framing for Granted 88

Fast-Tracking Opportunities When You Believe Speed to Market Is Critical 89

Key Take-Aways 91

Enabling Breakthrough Innovations Through Insight Combinations 54

Domaining: Building a Pipeline of Related Concepts 57

5 Propelling Fast Innovation 93

Engaging the Organization Through Focused Innovation Challenges 95

Innovation Accelerators 106

Open Innovation: Moving Faster Than Your Internal Development 108

Key Take-Aways 115

Postlaunch Innovation Pioneers: Select Case Examples 157

Postlaunch Innovation Issues to Anticipate 161

Key Take-Aways 163

6 Experimentation and De-Risking 117

Framing Risk to Manage It 119

Defining Your Learning Path 120

Developing Your Experimentation Agenda 123

Experimentation in Action 132

Key Take-Aways 136

7 Innovating While in Market 139

Innovating While Flying the Plane 140

Principles to Guide Postlaunch Innovation 141

Using Front-End Techniques in Postlaunch Activities: Develop New Insights to Enable New Learning 142

Translating Insights into Action 150

Continue to Experiment for Postlaunch Learning and Revision 154

Postlaunch Innovation: Illustrative Design Approaches 154

8 Organizing for Innovation 165

A Framework for Organizing the Elements of Innovation 166

Design Principles for Organizing for Innovation 167

The Organizing Elements 172

Case Examples: Organizing for Innovation 189

Key Take-Aways 198

9 Leading Innovation 199

Leading Innovation from the Top 200

Driving Leadership Engagement in Innovation 204

An Example of Innovation Leadership Engagement 206

Leading Innovation from the Top: Who’s on Point? 210

Top Leadership as an Indispensable Element 212

Leading from Within: Grassroots-Led Innovation 213

Key Take-Aways 218

10 Getting Started 219

Designing from Outcomes Back 220

Different Types of Innovation Outcomes 221

High-Level Designs for Frequently Desired Outcomes 223

Getting Started: Assembling the Team 237

Assessing Issues and Approach: Innovation Assessment and Design 239

Before You Begin: Some Additional Tips 244

Key Take-Aways 245

11 Conclusion and Looking Ahead 247

Flexible, Reconfigurable Techniques for Addressing Innovation Challenges 249

Be Alert for Common Pitfalls 251

Notes 255

Acknowledgments 265

About the Authors 269

Index 271

PETER SKARZYNSKI advises large, global organizations and their leaders on growth strategy, leadership, and organizational change. He has led strategy and growth efforts for clients in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. A frequent corporate and conference speaker, he is lead author of Innovation to the Core and has written thought pieces for The Wall Street Journal, CEO Magazine, and The Drucker Foundation.

DAVID CROSSWHITE is an advisor to senior leadership of large organizations on their most significant strategy and growth challenges. For over twenty years he has guided Global 1000 organizations in their implementation of growth and innovation strategies. His work has been highlighted in several books and Harvard Business School Cases, which are taught in leading MBA programs across the country.

“This Field Guide provides the key work processes, including concepts, techniques, and frameworks, for leaders to implement and execute innovation across their business lines. The book positions innovation from the perspective that it is necessary both in core and adjacent business spaces, while stressing the need to ‘compete on competencies.’ There are consistent themes of process rigor and return metrics throughout the book – powerful disciplines for improving your success rate in converting ideas into sustainable revenues.”
—Jeffrey L. Boike, Director, Growth Platforms, UOP LLC, A Honeywell Company

“The Field Guide goes beyond experiences and knowledge sharing from Peter and David about innovation, providing an invaluable, practical handbook that is easily accessible and useful ttion teams and leaders across the organization.”
—Adriano Nunes, Innovation & Sustainability Director, InterCement-Grupo Camargo Corrêa

“Skarzynski and Crosswhite decode the essence of putting innovation into practice. The Innovator´s Field Guide is full of useful tools and cases that help to unleash the potential of innovation in any organization. Definitely a must-have!”
—Miguel Setas, Executive President, EDP Brazil

“We needed to create a culture that fosters innovation every day. The overall process, frameworks, and tools in The Guide helped us to do so. We have altered our organizational DNA, focusing on delighting our customers and growing through innovation.”
—Chris Kearney, Chairman, President, and CEO, SPX Corporation

START EMBEDDING INNOVATION TODAY

There are plenty of books out there on innovation, but none of them answer this central question: What are the practical steps and actionable approaches for building an innovation capability and culture within your organization? If you are looking for complicated theory or academic debates, The Innovator’s Field Guide is not for you. This book is for leaders and practitioners who need actionable techniques to overcome their innovation challenges. This is a guide to implementing innovation now.

Peter Skarzynski and David Crosswhite have helped scores of Global 1000 companies build their capabilities to innovate and grow. They share market-tested techniques in concrete terms that are designed to help practitioners and leaders design and execute their growth agenda through innovation. You’ll learn how to identify potential breakthrough ideas, get those ideas to action, accelerate development of nascent or “stuck” concepts, and manage risk through rapid-cycle experimentation. And you’ll learn how to avoid common pitfalls that stall innovation.

Each chapter includes a summary of the “Key Take-Aways” so you can easily use the guide as an ongoing reference resource. The Innovator’s Field Guide is designed for everyday application. Embedding reliable innovation capability is critical to winning in today’s marketplace, and with The Innovator’s Field Guide, that work starts today.