Innoversity

ROGER MARTIN: THE OPPOSABLE MIND
The book gives a working definition of integrative thinking as: "The ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each".

Martin notes some of the major differences between integrative thinkers and conventional thinkers. Integrative thinkers: take a broad view of what is salient despite the increase it causes in the complexity of problems, consider multi directional and non linear casual relationships, keep the entire problem in mind while working on individual segments, and search for creative resolutions rather than accept trade offs.







DEBBE KENNEDY: PUTTING OUR DIFFERENCES TO WORK
This great book shows how leveraging diversity can become the fastest way to innovation, leadership, and high performance. Simply a great and incredibly useful read. In the book, Kennedy introduces five leadership priorities that can be used in leveraging diversity for innovation.

These are 1) Make diversity an organisational priority, 2) Get to know people and their differences, 3) Enable rich communication in order to ensure new thinking become multi-lateral and not merely one-way. 4) Hold personal responsibility as a core value, which challenges each leader to change his / her own mindset, and finally 5) Establish mutualism as a means for decision-making, problem-solving, product-development and profit-making.

These five leadership qualities guide people and especially leaders in helping people benefit from diversity and through this drive new levels of creativity, innovation, problem-solving, leadership and performance.






JUSTESEN: THE PARADOXES OF DIVERSITY IN INNOVATION
This Ph.D. dissertation from Copenhagen Business School by Susanne Justesen from INNOVERSITY COPENHAGEN evolves from a study of innovation practice in six different groups, and introduces a new approach to studying, analysing and working with group diversity in innovation practice: The INNOVERSITY Model. This research product makes us of a social constructionist approach to studying the construction of diversity in innovation practice.

This approach attempts to integrate research about diversity from other fields, notably social psychology, into the field of innovation theory, in an attempt to improve our understanding of the role of diversity in innovation, and use this understanding to help organisations navigate the complex paradoxes of diversity in innovation practice.








CARLSON & WILMOT: THE 5 DISCIPLINES OF INNOVATION
During my stay at Stanford University when finalising my Ph.D. studies in the summer of 2006, I had the pleasure of attending abook-signing in Menlo Park with Curtis Carlson, CEO for SRIInternational, who co-author this much- needed book on innovation with William Wilmot. I bought the book right away, and read it within the week, and can only encourage you to do the same.

Some of you are probably already familiar with the incredible track record of Stanford Research International when it comes to innovation; and with this book we get an important peak inside SRI International, to see how they go about innovation, and the 5 disciplines they have identified as necessary if wanting to give customers what they want. I am of course especially pleased by the fact that they have dedicated nothing less than four, actually five, chapters to the importance of putting together the right innovation (management) team. This book is simply a must read for any innovation affacinado! Enjoy!






BILL BISHOP: THE BIG SORT
This book is fascinating AND scary stuff. An interesting approach to the problematic nature of homogeneity. In his very well-researched book, Bishop shows how America really has a lot of diversity available, yet the places where Americans live are becoming increasingly crowded with people who live, think, and vote in the same way. Similarity at it's worst.

Bishop shows how this transformation didn't happen actually happen overnight, but was built by the very fact that we tend to choose the neighborhood, the church and the news show that is most compatible with our lifestyle and beliefs. As a consequence, America has now become so polarized, so ideologically inbred, that people don't know and can't understand those who live just a few miles away.

Susanne Justesen and Bill Biship appeared together in a US radio show (Smart City Radio) in May 2008. You can listen to this here







ROBERT SUTTON: WEIRD IDEAS THAT WORK
This great book from Stanford professor Robert Sutton is an interesting journey into how and from where the best ideas for leadership and innovation tend to come from: diversity. And to quote the professor himself: "What's weird," says Sutton, "is that people say that they want innovation, yet they can't depart from their deeply ingrained beliefs and practices about how to treat people, make decisions, and structure work." And those practices seem to produce homogeneity and similarity, and very little creativity.

More than just a set of bizarre suggestions, Weird Ideas That Work represents a breakthrough in management thinking. Sutton shows that the practices we need to sustain performance are in constant tension with those that foster new ideas. The trick is to choose the right balance between the conventional and the "weird." And this is where diversity becomes pivotal.






SCOTT E. PAGE: THE DIFFERENCE
This groundbreaking book breaking new ground in the field of diversity studies is a definate must-read for any diversity affascinado. In the book Page explores how the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools and societies. Page uses mathematical modeling and case studies to show how variety in staffing produces organizational strength and increased performance.

The book describes how people from different backgrounds have varying ways of looking at problems, what he calls "tools." The sum of these tools is far more powerful in organizations with diversity than in ones where everyone has gone to the same schools, been trained in the same mold and thinks in almost identical ways. The problems we face in the world are very complicated. Any one of us can get stuck. If we're in an organization where everyone thinks in the same way, everyone will get stuck in the same place.









FRANS JOHANSSON: THE MEDICI EFFECT
This new book from Harvard Business School Press is bout how we gain our breakthrough insights and our best innovations from bringing together different disciplines, concepts and cultures. An excellent book about the need for diversity in innovation, and none the least about how to pursue diversity at an individual level.

The Medici effect is what happens when people from different backgrounds interact to unleash new ideas, new innovations and new and creative approaches. The Medici effect, Johansson believes, is the single best way to create market share, profit margin and cost savings. He drew the name from the 15th-century Medici family, who brought together artists, philosophers, mathematicians, writers, and others from across Europe and the world, launching the Renaissance.

The Medici effect is hugely important for staffing companies, he adds, because they can help meet their clients' needs by staffing for diversity, bringing in people from different backgrounds, experiences, and cultures. A highly recommendable read!






HENRY CHESBROUGH: OPEN INNOVATION
Companies can no longer afford to rely entirely on their own ideas to advance their business. As a result, says Harvard Business School professor Henry W. Chesbrough, the traditional model for innovation--which has been largely closed off from outside ideas and technologies--is becoming obsolete. Emerging in its place is a new paradigm, "open innovation," which strategically leverages internal and external sources of ideas and takes them to market through multiple paths.

This path-breaking analysis is based on extensive field research, academic study, and the author's own longtime experience working in Silicon Valley. Through rich descriptions of the innovation processes of Xerox, IBM, Lucent, Intel, Merck, and Millennium, and the many spin-offs that have emerged from these firms, Open Innovation shows how companies can use their business model to identify a more enlightened role for R&D in a world of abundant information, better manage and access intellectual property, advance their current business, and grow their future business.






DEBRA MEYERSON: TEMPERED RADICALS
This book by Debra Meyerson describes how the guardians of big business are defending their values and power structure against outsiders, and examines what the intrusion of these diverse individuals means to corporate insiders -- as well as to outsiders.

In Tempered Radicals Meyerson describes how everyday leaders inspire change at work by representing change themselves. Meyerson describes the Tempered radicals' as people who want to succeed in their organizations yet want to live by their values or identities, even if they are somehow at odds with the dominant culture of their organizations. Tempered radicals want to fit in and they want to retain what makes them different. ...

These men and women of all races, religions, ethnic origins, ages, and sexual orientations from every corner of the globe describe how they must walk a fine line in their efforts to fit in without selling their souls. Meyerson observes that tempered radicals "are quiet catalysts who push back against prevailing norms, create learning, and lay the groundwork for slow but ongoing organizational and social change."